Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget 2025 speech lasts 1 hour 14 minutes. Is it her shortest address yet?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday delivered her eighth consecutive Union Budget speech in 2025. Her eight-budget address lasted a noteworthy 1 hour and 14 minutes.

Notably, Sitharaman holds the record for the longest Budget speech in history, a feat she achieved during the Budget presentation in 2020 when her address spanned two hours and 40 minutes.

At that time, Sitharaman had to cut her speech short with two pages remaining.

Budget 2025 LIVE: Nirmala Sitharaman says no income tax up to ₹12 lakh in big relief for middle class

Sitharaman's record eighth consecutive budget, which outlined several policies for the taxpayer and the middle class, comes in the backdrop of a slowdown in the economy and demand for tax cuts for the middle class.

Presenting the Budget for 2025-26, she said tax proposals are guided by income tax reforms for the middle class, TDS rationalisation, and easing compliance burden.

The government will also be introducing a new Income Tax (I-T) bill in Parliament next week.

Budget 2025: Is it Nirmala Sitharaman's shortest address yet?

Nirmala Sitharaman's shortest budget speech took place in February 2024, when her address to Parliament lasted 56 minutes as she presented the interim budget.

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The shortest budget speech in the history of India, however, is attributed to Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel, who delivered his interim budget speech in 1977 with only 800 words.

Budget 2025: New tax regime

Sitharaman during her budget speech said people earning up to 1.28 million rupees ($14,800) per year will not have to pay any taxes, raising its threshold from 700,000 rupees.

Budget 2025: What's cheaper and what's costlier

It also lowered tax rates for people earning above the new threshold, with the measures to cost around 1 trillion rupees in tax revenues, Sitharaman said.

Budget 2025: Revised tax slabs

Following are the revised slabs and rates under the new tax regime announced in the FY26 Budget:

Income up to ₹4 lakh (per annum) -Nil

Between ₹4 and 8 lakh -5 per cent (tax)

Between ₹8 and 12 lakh - 10 per cent

Between ₹12 and 16 lakh - 15 per cent

Between Rs16 and 20 lakh - 20 per cent

Between ₹20 and 24 lakh - 25 per cent

Above ₹24 lakh -30 per cent

Notably, the nill tax slab will apply for annual income up to ₹12 lakh ( ₹12.75 lakh for salaried taxpayers with a standard deduction of ₹75,000) under the new tax regime.