Finance Minister Sitharman set to make history with 7th consecutive Budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history when she presents her seventh straight Budget on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024-25, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai.

Sitharaman, who will turn 65 next month, was in 2019 appointed as India's first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a decisive second term. Since then, she has presented six straight budgets, including an interim one in February this year.

The full Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal (April 2024 to March 2025) will be her seventh straight. She will better Desai's record, who presented consecutive five full budgets and one interim budget between 1959 to 1964.

This year will witness two budgets - an interim one in February and a full one this month. This is because an incumbent government cannot present a full Budget just before general elections.

The presentation on July 23 will be the first Budget by the BJP-led NDA government since it was re-elected la