History Of The Budget Briefcase

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The tradition of carrying the Budget briefcase was a British legacy

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The word 'Budget' originates from the French word 'bougette', which means leather briefcase

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The tradition started in the 18th century when Britain's budget chief was asked to 'open the budget' while presenting his annual statement

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In 1860, the then British budget chief William E Gladstone carried his papers in a red suitcase with the Queen's monogram in gold

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The first Union Budget of Independent India was presented on November 26, 1947 by RK Shanmukham Chetty. He carried a leather bag

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Jawaharlal Nehru, who presented the budget in 1958, carried a black briefcase

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Manmohan Singh, who delivered the Budget in 1991, carried a black bag

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Yashwant Sinha, finance minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led governments, also carried a black bag

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Former Finance Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Arun Jaitley also carried a briefcase

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Piyush Goyal, who presented the interim Budget in February 2019, also carried a briefcase

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In subsequent years, Nirmala Sitharaman took a big stride towards digital India by switching to a Budget tablet in a red sleeve

Image: PTI

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