Until 2021, Budget documents were printed and distributed as booklets to parliamentarians. In this 2016 photo, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldier stands guard over Railway Budget documents at Parliament House in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Kamal Narang

In this six-article series, we take a look at the Union Budgets which shaped the Indian economy since Independence beginning with the first one in 1948 which built the foundation for government revenue.

We then analyse 1955’s budget which pushed the nation’s industrialisation and 1970 when Indira Gandhi hiked taxation to provide social justice.

Looking at the role of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s 1991 budget in liberalising Indian economy we move on to how his government tackled the global slowdown in the 2008 budget.

Lastly, we summarise Mr. Arun Jaitley’s 2017 budget which saw the merger of the Union and Railway budget