Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrives at the Parliament, to present Budget at 11 AM

1 Feb 2022 , 10:36 AM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fourth straight Union Budget 2022-23 at 11 AM. Union Cabinet will meet at 10.10 am to approve the Budget which will be presented by the finance minister in Parliament at 11 AM.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrives at the Parliament also Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Railways, Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and others arrive at Parliament for the union cabinet meeting.

Earlier today, FM Sitharaman met President Ram Nath Kovind as she was accompanied by Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Bhagwat Karad and other officials from the Ministry.

The speech duration of the presentation is for 90 to 120 minutes. FM Nirmala Budget 2020-21 speech was the longest in terms of duration in Indian history, as she gave a speech for two hours 40 minutes. However, FM had to cut her speech as she felt unwell.

If we take a look on the past Budget speech announcement, in 2019 FM Nirmala had delivered a Marathon speech that lasted for two hours 17 minutes. Jaswant Singh’s record of two hours 15 minutes in 2003.

In today’s Budget FM is expected to channel more spending toward policies that create jobs, boost manufacturing and also benefit the poor.

Also, key factors to watch out for this budget would be projected increase in tax collections, dividends from the central bank and state-run companies, any changes in import levies as part of the government’s plan to boost manufacturing, and allocation toward subsidies, particularly for fertilizer makers.

Also, the Union Budget will be presented days before the start of assembly elections in five states, including the most populous, Uttar Pradesh, which could spur Sitharaman to promise higher rural spending and subsidies on food and fertiliser, economists and officials said.