Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her eighth consecutive Budget today, carrying forward her tradition of using a digital tablet enclosed in a red 'bahi-khata' style pouch. According to PTI, this marks the continuation of a practice she introduced in 2019 when she moved away from the colonial-era Budget briefcase.

Sitharaman, India's first full-time female Finance Minister, initially replaced the traditional briefcase with a red cloth folder tied with a string and featuring the national emblem. In 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she took a further step towards modernisation by opting for a paperless Budget, using a digital tablet instead of physical documents. PTI reports that she has since continued this format, bringing the tablet in a red case to Parliament.