Before Nirmala Sitharaman Makes Her Debut, Meet the Man Who Created India's First Budget

The newly appointed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for 2019-20 on July 5 in the Lok Sabha.

She will become the second woman to present the Budget in the Indian parliament. In 1970-71, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi took the portfolio of the Finance Minister after Moraji Desai resigned.

Before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presents the Union Budget 2019-2020 on July 5, here’s a brief about India's first budget and the man who presented it.

1. On April 7, 1860, James Wilson, the then Finance Minister of India under the British rule, presented the first-ever Indian Budget.

2. He was Scottish and had founded 'The Economist' magazine.

3. Having started his career as a hat-maker, he later came to found the Chartered Bank in 1853. It now goes by the name Standard Chartered Bank.

4. Wilson arrived in India in 1859 and passed the Income Tax Act during his tenure.

5. His immense knowledge about finance and economics helped him find a place in the British Parliament. He later became the Finance Secretary to the UK Treasury and Vice-President of the Board of Trade.

6. James Wilson died on August 11, 1860.

One-fifty-nine years later, the first full Budget of Modi 2.0 government will be presented in the Lok Sabha on Friday, July 5, 2019, at 11.00 am.

The Rajya Sabha will be convened on Thursday, June 20, 2019, and subject to exigencies of government business, the session will conclude on Friday, July 26, 2019.

In view of the general elections 2019, the interim Budget for the current fiscal was presented by the then Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.