Union Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday returned with a tablet wrapped in a traditional ‘bahi-khata’ style pouch as she headed for Parliament to present the Union Budget 2023-24.
Sitharaman has been presenting the budget in a paperless format just like the previous two years.
Ahead of the Union Budget 2023-24, she posed for the traditional ‘briefcase’ picture outside her office along with her team of officials before heading to meet the President.
She was holding a tablet instead of a briefcase to present the Budget in a digital format.
Interestingly, the tablet was kept inside a red cover with a golden-coloured national emblem embossed on it instead of the briefcase.
After meeting President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan, she went straight to Parliament.
India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, ditched the legacy of Budget briefcase for the traditional ‘bahi-khata’ to carry Union Budget papers in July 2019.
In a pandemic-hit 2021, she swapped traditional papers with a digital tablet for carrying her speech as well as other Budget documents.
The Union Budget for 2023-24 is Sitharaman’s fifth straight Budget. Her Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2023 (FY2023-24) is the Modi government’s 11th straight Budget since 2014 including one interim Budget presented ahead of general elections in 2019.
(With inputs from PTI)
