Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who also holds the finance portfolio, took three hours to finish his budget speech running over 76 pages.
It was the third budget speech in a row today by the six-time Chief Minister. Singh, who delivered his first budget speech in 1984, has presented 18 budgets so far.
When asked about the difference between his first speech and today's speech, the chief minister quipped, "This is my longest speech."
He chose to read out the English version of the speech, which was punctuated by nine Urdu couplets, adding different hues to the long speech.
