1947 | Independent India’s first Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty presented India’s first Budget, which allocated 46% of total expenditure (Rs 197.39 crore) to the Defence Services Department. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
1968 | Morarji Desai’s Budget, commonly known as the People’s Budget, simplified the assessment of goods by introducing the system of self-assessment for all manufacturers. This Budget also abolished ‘spouse allowance’, which was a tax saving tool for both husband and wife. This was done in order to “to eliminate this unintended strain on the relationship of marriage.”
1991 | Commonly known as the Epochal Budget. Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, under the Narasimha Rao government, took steps for India to welcome globalisation and slashed import licensing and promoted exports.
1997 | Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s “Dream Budget” put across a roadmap for economic reforms in India, which included lowering of income tax rates, removing of the surcharge on corporate taxes, and introducing a scheme on prevention of black money.
2000 | The then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha put forward the ‘The Millennium Budget’, which was aimed at making India a software-IT hub. It introduced the concept of exporting software.
2005 | Commonly known as the Aam Aadmi Budget and tabled by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the Budget featured lower corporate tax rates and customs duty, MNREGA and RTI.
