No briefcase! Nirmala Sitharaman carries budget documents in red cloth with national emblem, ribbon

Union Budget 2019: Moving away from a British-era tradition, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ditched the traditional briefcase ahead of her first Budget 2019 speech and instead carried a red packet with the national emblem wrapped with a ribbon. The picture with this unique red bag immediately went viral on social media.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Finance Anurag Thakur, Finance Secretary SC Garg, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian and other officials were also accompanying the minister outside the finance ministry. Union Budget 2019 will be presented at 11 am in Lok Sabha today.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Finance Anurag Thakur, Finance Secretary S C Garg, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian and other officials outside Finance Ministry. #Budget2019 to be presented at 11 am in Lok Sabha today pic.twitter.com/oCyrMSNg7N

- ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2019

Meanwhile, Twitter users have appreciated the minister for bucking the trend, and are hoping she will throw surprises in her first budget speech as well. "No briefcase, just a bag, Nirmala Sitharaman breaks a Budget trend," said a user. "Bring a lady to high offices & you can see some welcome changes. Something like what the businessmen in India have been using every Diwali for new files," said another user.

No briefcase, just a bag, Nirmala Sitharaman breaks a Budget trend https://t.co/RwOOvrWq0t

- Priyanka Sharma (@journopriyanka5) July 5, 2019

@nsitharaman ji ditches the black suitcase & comes with an Indian styles red colour bag with budget documents!

Bring a lady to high offices & you can see some welcome changes.

Something like what the businessmen in India have been using every deewali for new files #Budget2019 pic.twitter.com/tq0OcFaNqQ

- d $gh Sudeep Singh Jobs in India (@ideasingh) July 5, 2019

Sitharaman's first Budget will be announced against the backdrop of India's economy hitting a five-year low growth of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19. It will be interesting to see how Nirmala Sitharaman proposes to steer the economy at a time when reports suggest that there's been a steep slowdown. The Economic Survey which is traditionally released a day before the Budget mentioned yesterday that the government needs to pump in new investments.

Edited by Manoj Sharma

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