Budget 2024: Finance Minister Continues Red Pouch Legacy, To Present Third Paperless Budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will continue her tradition of presenting a paperless Budget on Tuesday as she carried a digital tablet wrapped in a traditional 'bahi-khata' style red pouch adorned with the national emblem.

Dressed in a white silk saree with a magenta border, she posed for the customary photo outside her office alongside her team before heading to meet President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman Finance Minister, had abandoned the colonial-era briefcase in favour of the 'bahi-khata' for Budget presentations starting in July 2019. She retained this approach in subsequent years, switching to a digital tablet amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic in 2021.

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This year's Budget for fiscal year 2024-25 marks the Modi government's thirteenth consecutive Budget since 2014, including two interim Budgets presented before the general elections in 2019 and 2024.

Sitharaman, who assumed office following the 2019 elections, presented her maiden Budget on July 5, 2019, using a red cloth folder secured with a string and embossed with the national emblem. Earlier in February this year, she presented another interim Budget.

The 2024-25 Budget is Sitharaman's seventh consecutive one, setting a new record. Prior to her, finance ministers in various governments, including her predecessors in the Modi administration Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal, adhered to the tradition of using a standard Budget briefcase.

The breaking of colonial-era traditions during Budget presentations dates back to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, when then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha shifted the presentation time from the traditional 5 pm to 11 am.

(With PTI inputs)