Morarji Desai Presented ten annual budgets in the Parliament. P Chidambaram comes second after Morarji Desai, with eight annual budgets. The first budget of Independent India was presented by R K Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947.
MORARJI DESAI
Independence activist Morarji Desai tops the list as he presented ten budgets during his tenure. He was also the first Prime Minister to lead country’s first non-Congress Government. Apart from these, he was also the Chief Minister of Bombay, Home minister and the deputy Prime Minister of India. Desai took initiatives to bring back friendly relations with countries like China and Pakistan. He also contributed crucially in Indian nuclear program. Desai was the only Indian minister to receive Pakistan's highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan. To reduced its budget and operations, Morarji Desai closed down much of India's premier intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
Tenure:1958–1963,1967–1969
PALANIAPPAN CHIDAMBARAM
Palaniappan Chidambaram occupies the second place in the list with eight budget sessions. Chidambaram has been one of the most known Finance Ministers since independence. The Indian politician affiliated with Indian National Congress (INC) held the finance portfolio for eight years, which is the highest so far. Chidambaram had studied law and has been a important member of the Congress Government. Chidambaram, in his tenure struck a balance in the economy by launching tax reforms to tackle fiscal deficit. He also protected India from recession by boosting aggregate demand in the economy.
Tenure:1996-1997, 1997–1998, 2004–2008, 2012–2014
Pranab Mukherjee, the current President of the country, Yashwant Sinha, Y B Chavan and C D Deshmukh have presented seven budgets each in the past.
C.D DESHMUKH
Dekhmukh was the first Indian who was appointed as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India in the year 1943 and worked for seven years as finance minister in the entire caree. He presented seven budgets during his tenure. While he served as Finance Minister, he also became the founding member of National Council of Applied Economic Research. Deshmukh represented India at the Bretton Woods Conference which led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
Tenure:1950- 1957
YASHWANTRAO CHAVAN
Writer and Social activist Yashwant Rao Chavan has also come long way in this race, presenting seven budgets in parliament. He occupied the finance portfolio for almost four years in his political career. He became the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the division of Bombay State. Being an activist, he was popularly known as the Leader of Common People. Also, Yaswantrao has played a crucial role in the politics of Maharashtra.
Tenure:1971–1974
PRANAB MUKHERJEE
The current President of India has also played a crucial role in the finance ministry. He has been the Union Finance Minister for five years and presented seven budgets. He has a Master’s degree in History and Political Science as well as a degree in Law. Mukherjee has also written several books on Indian Economy and Nation Building. During the period 2004-2012, he took vital decisions relating to Administrative reforms, RTI, Right to Employment, Food Security, Energy Security, Information Technology and telecommunication, setting up of UIDAI, Metro Rail etc. Mukherjee also modified formula for resource sharing between the Centre and the States in the year 1991 which is known as the Gadgil - Mukherjee formula.
Tenure: 1982–1984, 2009–2012
YASHWANT SINHA
Senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, Yashwant Sinha has been the Minister of finance for 5 years. Sinha introduced several reforms like lowering of real interest rates, introducing tax deduction for mortgage interest, freeing up the telecommunications sector, helping fund the National Highways Authority, and deregulating the petroleum industry. Sinha wrote a comprehensive account of his tenure as Finance Minister titled Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer.
Tenure: November 1990 – June 1991, March 1998 – July 2002
Manmohan Singh and the country's fourth finance minister T T Krishnamachari have presented six budgets each during their tenures in the finance ministry.
T. T KRISHNAMACHARI
Krishnamachari was the founding member of National Council of Applied Economic Research and the Finance Minister for nearly three years. Apart from these, he was a visiting professor to the department of economics at Madras Christian College. He was the first Minister for Commerce and Industry.
Tenure:1957–1958, 1964–1965
MANMOHAN SINGH
After C.D Deshmukh comes Indian economist Manmohan Singh who has six years of experience in the Ministry of Finance. Singh studied economics in Oxford and worked in United Nation for three years. Former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao elected Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister while India was facing severe economic crisis and as expected from him, he handled the post very well by carrying out several reforms to liberalise Indian economy. Undoubtedly, during Manmohan Singh’s regime the economy grew rapidly. Recently, He also served as the Prime Minister of India.
Tenure:1991–1996, 2008–2009, 2012
Among others, R Venkatraman and H M Patel have presented three budgets each, while Jaswant Singh, V P Singh, C Subramaniam, John Mathai and R K Shanmukham Chetty have two budgets each.
V.P SINGH
Vishwapratap singh has two years of experience in the ministry of finance. Singh is popular for his initiative to improve the conditions of India's lower castes while he served as Prime Minister for a short period of time. Singh was renowned for his honesty and his willingness to sacrifice office.
Tenure: 1985–1987
JASWANT SINGH
Former BJP leader Jaswant Singh has been a well known face of Indian politics. In his career as a politician, he held the finance portfolio for 2 years. Apart from finance, he also handled external affairs ministry and defence ministry. He introduced market-friendly reforms of the government and received the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2001.
Tenure: 1996–1996, 2002–2004
Besides, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Charan Singh, N D Tiwari, Madhu Dandwate, S B Chavan and Sachindra Chaurdhuri have presented one budget each.
Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi had presented budget in their capacity as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.