The Union Finance Minister was seen carrying the Budgetdocuments in a red silk bag with national emblem. In a departure from the past,India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday,July 5, 2019, carried the Union Budget documents in a red bag, reminiscence ofthe traditional bahi-khata. Earlier, Finance Ministers in different governmentsused to carry a briefcase to present budget, which was considered as atradition of colonial past.

Ms. Sitharaman is presenting the full Budget for2019-20. She is carrying the Budget documents in a red silk bag with nationalemblem.During the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, the theFinance MinisterYashwant Sinha broke the one colonial tradition of budget presentation at 5 pm.Sincethen all governments have been presenting the budget at 11 am. Bahi-Khata isreferred to books of account maintained by traditional Indian businessmen.Commentingon the shift from a briefcase to bahi-khata, Chief Economic Advisor,Krishnamurthy Subramanian said the government is following “Indian tradition”.Itis in Indian tradition. It symbolises our departure from slavery of Westernthought. It is not a Budget, but a Bahi-Khata (ledger).