Meet 27 Finance Ministers Of India Since Independence: A Look Back At The Union Budget From 1947 To 2025
In November 1947, the nation's first post-independence budget was presented. Learn about the finance ministers of India and the specifics of their budget presentations since independence.
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Budget 2025: On February 1, 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to deliver her eighth consecutive Union Budget. Under British administration, James Wilson introduced income tax and fiscal changes in 1860, marking the beginning of India's budget history. In 1947, RK Shanmukham Chetty presented the first sovereign budget after independence, tackling both nation-building priorities and economic difficulties. Here is a look at the Union Budget's history from 1947 to 2025. Get to know India's finance ministers from independence below.
Ramasamy Kandasamy Shanmukham Chetty
(August 15, 1947 – August 17, 1948)
The first Finance Minister of Independent India was R. K. Shanmukham Chetty. On November 26, 1947, the first budget for the nation was presented. During his term, the Planning Commission was established. In his address, India's first budget presenter declared that the budget statement was intended to last for seven and a half months. He allocated ₹197.39 crore for revenue expenditures and ₹171.15 crore for revenue.
John Matthai
September 22, 1948 – January 26, 1950
January 26, 1950 – May 6, 1950
May 6, 1950 – June 1, 1950
Prior to succeeding Shanmukham Chetty as Finance Minister, John Matthai was the nation's first Railway Minister. During his leadership, five-year plans were introduced. He resigned in protest of the Planning Commission's growing authority.
Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh
June 1, 1950 – May 13, 1952
May 13, 1952 – August 1, 1956
The first interim budget for 1951–52 was presented by Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh. The first Five-Year Plan was in effect during his tenure. In addition to company tax, he suggested raising taxes overall and adding a 5% surcharge to all income tax and super-tax rates.
Jawaharlal Nehru
August 1, 1956 – August 30, 1956
February 14, 1958 – March 22, 1958
The first prime minister to introduce the Union Budget was Jawaharlal Nehru. He instituted the gift tax, with the exemption of government agencies, corporations formed under federal or state laws, charity organizations, and public firms with six or more people in charge of their operations.. He also suggested a few changes to the Estate Duty Act.
Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachari
August 30, 1956 – April 17, 1957
April 17, 1957 – February 14, 1958
August 31, 1963 – December 31, 1965
Both the wealth tax and the expenditure tax were introduced by T.T. Krishnamachari. During his reign, NLC, IDBI, ICICI, and Damodar Valley Corporation were founded. The voluntary disclosure of undeclared income scheme was first implemented in the nation during this tenure.
Morarji Desai
March 22, 1958 – April 10, 1962
April 10, 1962 – August 31, 1963
March 13, 1967 – July 16, 1969
Moraji Desai has submitted the most budgets to date, ten in total, including an interim budget. He promoted agro-based research and development (R&D) and established the Indian Council of Agriculture Research. He also laid the groundwork for the Green Revolution. He implemented the import licensing system. In 1968, Desai established a system for both large and small firms to evaluate their own products. Additionally, he eliminated the marital allowance, making the husband and wife separate tax assessors.
Sachindra Chaudhuri
January 1, 1966 – January 11, 1966
January 11, 1966 – January 24, 1966
January 24, 1966 – March 13, 1967
Sachindra Chaudhuri was part of the Indian delegation to the United Nations. During his term, the expenditure tax was removed.
Indira Gandhi
July 16, 1969 – June 27, 1970
Indira Gandhi held the Finance Portfolio while serving as India's prime minister. The White Revolution, often referred to as Operation Flood, came after the Green Revolution. Additionally, during her leadership, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was established.
Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan
June 27, 1970 – March 18, 1971
March 18, 1971 – October 10, 1974
Yashwantrao B. Chavan nationalized coal mines and general insurance companies. It was during his reign that the economy entered a recession.
Chidambaram Subramaniam
October 10, 1974 – March 24, 1977
Family pension plans, EPF, ESI, and other social security programs were created. To help government employees who do not take any money out of their provident fund accounts during the year, he proposed an incentive bonus program in his budget address for FY 1975–76.
Haribhai M. Patel
March 26, 1977 – January 24, 1979
Finance Minister Patel was the first to be outside of Congress. He delivered the 800-word budget speech that is the shortest to date! He established the rule that Indian businesses might own 50% of foreign businesses doing business in India.
Charan Singh
January 24, 1979 – July 16, 1979
In his budget speech for FY 1979–80, Charan Singh suggested stepping up the pace and focus of initiatives that directly affect agricultural growth and job creation. He imposed high excise taxes on FMCG (fast-moving consumer products).
Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
July 28, 1979 – October 19, 1979
In spite of his position as Finance Minister, he never introduced a budget.
Ramaswamy Venkataraman
January 14, 1980 – January 15, 1982
He exempted sewing machines, pressure cookers, bicycles, and life-saving medications from excise duty. He eliminated the license charge on the radio as well.
Pranab Mukherjee
January 15, 1982 – October 31, 1984
October 31, 1984 – December 31, 1984
January 24, 2009 – May 22, 2009
May 23, 2009 – June 26, 2012
Public investments and remittances, particularly from NRIs, were the main focus of Pranab Mukherjee's attention. In order to mobilize private resources for public purposes, the Social Security Certificate and Capital Investment Bond were developed. During his tenure, the Food Security Bill was introduced. To raise money, 3G spectrum airwaves were put up for auction. A retroactive amendment to the Income Tax Act made transactions involving the acquisition of an Indian company's assets taxable. In order to lower the deficit, Pranab Mukherjee also implemented budget cuts.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh
December 31, 1984 – January 14, 1985
January 14. 1985 – March 30, 1985
March 30, 1985 – September 25, 1985
September 25, 1985 – January 24, 1987
Vishwanath Pratap Singh established the Small Industries Development Bank to assist small-scale businesses. Among the many pro-poor initiatives he developed were subsidized bank loans for rickshaw pullers and an accident insurance program for municipal sweepers. A significant tax reform known as the modified value-added tax (MODVAT) and export incentives were also enacted by him.
Rajiv Gandhi
January 24, 1987 – July 25, 1987
Rajiv Gandhi was the first to implement the corporate tax, which was later renamed the Minimum Alternate Tax. He suggested starting a comprehensive program for housing building, especially homes for economically disadvantaged groups, in his budget address for 1987–88.
Narayan Datt Tiwari
July 25, 1987 – June 25, 1988
In order to encourage the import of machinery and raw materials, N. D. Tiwari lowered the interest rate on export credits from 12% to 9% and granted 100% income tax exemption to export profits.
Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan
June 25, 1988 – December 2, 1989
Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan introduced the implementation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Rojgar Yojana, an intense initiative for rural employment. To encourage the transfer of personal savings into equity, the Equity-Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) was established. Investment and mutual fund earnings were tax-exempt up to a specified amount.
Madhu Dandavate
December 5, 1989 – November 10, 1990
Madhu Dandavate abolished the Gold Control Act, which governed domestic trade to help craftsmen and small goldsmiths..When Dandavate took over the finance portfolio, SEBI, the stock market regulator, was established.
Yashwant Sinha
November 21, 1990 – June 21, 1991
March 19, 1998 – October 13, 1999
October 13, 1999 – July 1, 2002
Yashwant Sinha lay the groundwork for economic reforms in his 1991 interim budget. Sinha ended the tax break for the IT sector. The Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT) replaced the Modified Value Added Tax (MODVAT). In order to promote industrial development, he also created Special Economic Zones. He also initiated the reorganization of the debt market.
Dr. Manmohan Singh
June 21, 1991 – May 16, 1996
November 30, 2008 – January 24, 2009
June 26, 2012 – July 31, 2012
With an emphasis on boosting foreign exchange reserves, lowering the fiscal deficit, and enacting trade policy reforms, Manmohan Singh opened up the nation's market through the LPG (Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization) strategy.
Jaswant Singh
July 1, 2002 – May 22, 2004
During his tenure, income tax filing was made electronic. He gave taxpayers comfort by slightly raising the standard deduction and exempting the voluntary retirement plan (VRS) from income tax up to ₹5 lakh. A ₹12,000 tax discount for two children's school expenditures was introduced.
Palaniappan Chidambaram
May 23, 2004 – November 30, 2008
July 31, 2012 – May 26, 2014
MGNREGS was implemented during his tenure to give rural laborers 100 days of employment. Infrastructure bonds were issued without taxes. He cancelled more than ₹7 lakh billion in farm loans. A 10% surcharge was established by P Chidambaram for taxable income over ₹1 crore. During his term, the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme was implemented. The first PSU bank created specifically for women was Bhartiya Mahila Bank.
Arun Jaitley
May 26, 2014 – May 30, 2019
During the first term of Narendra Modi as prime minister, Jaitley occupied the finance portfolio. During his tenure, two significant decisions were the GST and the demonetization. He shifted the budget presentation from the last working day of February to the first day in 2017. Additionally, in 2017–18, he was the first Finance Minister to introduce a "unified" budget that combined the Central Budget and the Railway Budget.
Piyush Goyal
January 23, 2019 – February 15, 2019
In 2018 and 2019, Piyush Goyal carried the additional responsibility of Finance Minister. In Absence of Arun Jaitley, who was in the United States for medical treatment, he presented the interim budget on February 1, 2019. The centerpiece of his budget was the ₹12,500 credit for income taxpayers.
Nirmala Sitharaman
May 31, 2019 – Present
Nirmala Sitharaman became the second woman finance minister after Indira Gandhi. The first budget address Sitharaman gave was on July 5, 2019. Highlights included a new income tax rate with riders, a proposal to introduce digital currency, a number of customs duty hikes, an additional surcharge on the exceedingly rich, and an emphasis on the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision. So far, she has proposed seven consecutive budgets: six regular budgets and one interim budget. On February 1, 2025, she will deliver the second budget of the Modi 3.0 Government, her eighth consecutive budget presentation.
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