Twitter records 11 lakh Tweets as Indians react to #UnionBudget2020

As India took to Twitter to watch and react to the #UnionBudget2020, we saw more than 11 lakh budget-related Tweets between Jan 30th, 2020 to Feb 3rd, 2020. The Economic Survey released the day prior to the budget also dominated conversations.

Through a live carousel featuring 12 livestreams, where audiences on Twitter could catch updates during the run-up to and presentation of the Union Budget, Indians followed the conversation between policy makers, influencers, journalists, opinion-makers, and everyday users.

Premium news partners shared Budget day sessions, including Rajya Sabha TV, which live-streamed the Finance Minister’s entire speech in Parliament, the longest Budget speech made by a Finance Minister in Indian history, as well as live streams and analysis by leading news publishers CNBCTV18, ET Now, CNN News 18, ABP News, Livemint, and Times Now. 

Making sure the Budget was inclusive to Indians across languages, news partners in four languages including English, Hindi, Marathi and Tamil leveraged Twitter to join the conversation. These publishers included Aaj Tak, BBC Marathi and Puthiya Thalaimurai. ABP News featured a live Hindi translation on the #UnionBudget2020 speech. 

News partners across print, broadcast and digital also made use of unique Twitter features. Let’s take a look at how they made the most out of our service: 

1. ABP News ran a poll on the #UnionBudget2020

As did The Indian Express:

2. Leading business news channel CNBCTV18 invited audiences to join the conversations by tweeting their questions using the hashtag #AskCNBCTV18 and #BudgetWithCNBCTV18

3. Swarajya live-Tweeted key highlights of the speech, stringing them together via a Twitter Thread 

4. And finally, a series of publishers made use of Twitter Moments. Including, Business Insider India which delved into the much-discussed phrase #Thalinomics -- How much does a Thali cost in each state?

Deccan Herald, also Tweeted Moments through the course of the day.

ET Now broke down the complexities of the budget and decoded it through simple to follow videos which they shared as a Twitter Moment and Thread. 

And MoneyControl shared highlights of the Budget day speech via a Twitter Moment.

The magnitude of Twitter conversations during important moments like the Budget represent the voice of the citizens of India, who care about staying updated, and are aware and actively involved in issues of national importance. 

Especially in moments like these, Twitter comes alive and continues to be India’s live connection to what’s happening. Don’t forget to join the conversation and follow along, using #UnionBudget2020.