Union Budget 2020: Some facts you may not know

Under Article 112 of the Constitution of India, the central government is constitutionally bound to lay down the 'annual financial report' of the country. This report is commonly known as the Union Budget of India. The Union Budget holds the same character as the budgets of other levels of government, except in the source of revenue and expenditure. The Union Budget also includes the Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill, both of which are to be passed by both Houses of Parliament before implementation on April 1 of the new financial year.

The outgoing government announces an Interim Budget or Vote on Account in February which is followed by a full budget by the new government in a few months' time after the elections. A key point of difference between Interim Budget and a full-fledged Union budget is that the former is only valid for two months (until the new government presents its budget) while the latter is for a whole year. Jaitley presented all the five budgets of the Modi government's first tenure but missed out on presenting the interim budget in February this year due to ill-health. Stand-in finance minister Piyush Goyal presented the pre-general election interim budget on February 1, 2019.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first and only women till now to have presented the Union Budget. In 1970, she presented the Union Budget of India for 1970-71, after she took over the finance portfolio following the resignation of Morarji Desai as finance minister. Gandhi held the portfolio for a year before appointing her home minister, Yashwantrao Chavan, as finance minister. Sitharaman was the second women defence minister after Indira Gandhi who held the portfolio till 1982. However, unlike Gandhi, she was the first full-time women defence minister.

Budget was introduced for the first time in India on April 7, 1860, by the East India Company to the British Crown. A company which now has an India owner, Sanjiv Mehta, a Mumbai-born entrepreneur who successfully claimed it in 2005.

Morarji Desai, the former Finance Minister of India, has presented the budget a record 10 times. This is the most by any finance minister in the history of India. Chidambaram is second in place to present eight budgets.