New Delhi:  Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her seventh Union Budget tomorrow, July 23 at 11 am, as the Monsoon Session of Parliament began this morning.

With this, she becomes the first Finance Minister to present seven consecutive budgets, surpassing Morarji Desai’s record of six. Desai served as Finance Minister from 1959 to 1964 and presented five full budgets and one interim budget.

Budget 2024 will be delivered in paperless form, similar to previous full Union Budgets. This will be the first Budget of the newly elected NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

An Interim Union Budget for 2024 was presented on Feb. 1 in the run-up to the general elections. The Finance Ministry has concluded several rounds of deliberations with various economic stakeholders as part of budget preparations. 

This morning, Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey of India 2023-24, along with a statistical appendix, in both Houses of Parliament. The budget for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for 2024 will also be presented  tomorrow.

The Economic Survey is an official report card on the government’s financial performance and the state of the economy during the year ending Mar. 31. It also provides an outlook on future policy changes. It is usually released by the Ministry of Finance a day before the Union Budget is tabled.