The word Budget comes from the French word ‘Bougette’, which means leather briefcase. Year after year, ministers have appeared with a bag for the annual exercise — barring 2020 when Nirmala Sitharaman bucked traditions and walked in with a digital tablet
A look at the briefcase carried by former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ahead of the Budget presentation in 2015. AFP
As we gear up for Union Budget 2022-2023, there is one aspect of the exercise that doesn’t get too much attention.
We are talking about the unforgettable image that is taken each year as the finance minister stands outside Parliament holding a suitcase right before presenting the annual financial statement.
Here’s a look at the history of the suitcase and its significance in the financial exercise.
Budget origins
Unknown to many, the word Budget has its origin in the French word ‘Bougette’, which means leather briefcase.
And that’s the reason why we have seen finance ministers over the years holding it at Parliament.
The tradition comes from the United Kingdom from the 18th century. The first budget box was designed in 1860 for the Chancellor of the UK back then, William Ewart Gladstone who commissioned a wooden box, lined in black satin and covered in scarlet leather with Queen’s monogram embossed in gold.
The UK since then has stuck to the red Gladstone box. However, in 2010, UK’s red Gladstone bag had become so shabby that it was ‘officially’ retired.
India’s budget bag
India too has followed this British tradition. But, there has been no specific colour used for the briefcase. Over the years, we have seen finance ministers using briefcases that were red, black and even tan in colour.
The first budget of India on 26 November, 1947 saw then Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty carrying a trademark budget bag.
Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty on 26 November, 1947 carrying the trademark budget bag. Press Information Bureau
In 1974, Yashwantrao Chavan walked up to Parliament with a steel-lined suitcase. During the 1998-99 budget, Yashwant Singh’s briefcase had buckles and straps, whereas Manmohan Singh carried a briefcase similar to the Gladstone box, although black in colour in 1991. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was seen with a scarlet leather briefcase much like the British one and Arun Jaitley had carried a tan briefcase in 2015.
File image of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee poses with his briefcase as he arrives at Parliament to present the budget in New Delhi on 16 February, 2009. AFP
Incidentally, not all finance ministers have used the bag at the Budget presentation. Finance ministers TT Krishnamachari in 1957-58 and 1964-65, and Morarji Desai in 1959-1964 and 1967-70, carried their budget speeches – in files.
Sitharaman’s break with tradition
In 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ditched the briefcase and opted for the ‘Bahi Khata’ to carry the Budget papers. Her move attracted a lot of buzz to which she said: “For Budget 2019, I did not carry a suitcase. We are not a suitcase-carrying government. A suitcase also denotes something else, ‘suitcase taking, suitcase giving.’ Modiji’s government is not a suitcase government.”
Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said on Nirmala Sitharaman keeping budget documents in the four-fold red cloth instead of a briefcase, “It is in Indian tradition. It symbolises our departure from the slavery of Western thought. It is not a budget but a ‘bahi khaata’ (ledger).”
Going hi-tech in 2020
In 2020, Nirmala Sitharaman again made headlines when her ‘bahi-khaata’ was switched with a tablet.
The finance minister was seen carrying a tablet kept inside a red coloured cover with a golden coloured national emblem embossed on it. The year 2020 also saw the Union Budget being delivered in paperless form, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a CNBCTV18 report, Sitharaman read out her Budget from a ‘Made in India’ tablet, manufactured by Samsung. The report added that the red folder and State Emblem of India stamped on the folder were also Made in India. The stamp of State Emblem, which is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka from 250 BCE at Sarnath, was made in Moradabad.
But, what’s in the bag?
And while all this is fine, there are many who still wonder what’s in the bag.
Very simply, the briefcase carries the finance minister’s budget speech and financial documents. This is revealed once the budget presentation is completed.
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With inputs from agencies
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