New Delhi, February 15 Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that it is a matter of national pride that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented nine consecutive budgets, and that several women across India are inspired by this achievement.
Sitharaman, who presented nine consecutive budgets on February 1, is the only finance minister to have done so, and is one short of the record of 10 budgets presented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
However, Desai presented six budgets during his tenure as finance minister from 1959 to 1964, and four budgets between 1967 and 1969.
"In fact, it is a matter of national pride that our Finance Minister, Nirmala Ji, has presented the Budget nine times consecutively, which is a record and a matter of pride in itself," the Prime Minister said in an exclusive interview with PTI.
"Several women across India are inspired by this," he added.
Former finance ministers P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee had presented nine and eight budgets, respectively, but under different Prime Ministers.
