Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents her record 8th union budget in a row on Saturday morning in the Parliament. Will the FM bring much needed relief to the middle classes with tax breaks? Will she continue down her path of big capital spending for trickle-down effect to deal with the slowdown visible in lower consumption levels and laggard private sector investment? Or will she push forward with some politically unpopular but much needed structural reforms? Tune in as some of India's best minds join Times of India to decode and analyse Nirmal Sitharaman's Budget 2025.

The wait for Budget 2025 is over as the Narendra Modi-led NDA government prepares to unveil the Union Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her record eighth consecutive budget, expected to introduce measures aimed at boosting economic growth, providing relief to the middle class struggling with high prices and stagnant wage growth while maintaining fiscal prudence.

The Economic Survey anticipates growth between 6.3% and 6.8% in FY26, falling short of the pace needed to achieve Viksit Bharat by 2047. It underscores the urgency of land and labour reforms to accelerate economic expansion.

Appointed in 2019 as India’s first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Modi secured a second term, Sitharaman has remained in charge of the finance portfolio following Modi’s third consecutive victory in 2024.

She has so far presented seven consecutive budgets, including an interim one in February 2024.

Her 2020 Budget speech set a record as the longest in India's history, lasting 2 hours and 42 minutes, marking her third consecutive budget and standing out for its extensive policy announcements.

Her maiden budget in 2019 spanned 2 hours and 15 minutes, outlining a long-term economic vision. The shortest, delivered during the Interim Budget on February 1, 2024, lasted just 57 minutes.

With this budget, Sitharaman moves closer to the record of 10 Union Budgets presented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

Desai delivered six budgets during his tenure as finance minister (1959-1964) and four more between 1967-1969. Former finance ministers P. Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee had presented nine and eight budgets, respectively, under different Prime Ministers.