Budget 2019: Dear Finance Minister, What’s in the Budget Box?

Here is all about the tradition of carrying Red “Bougette” aka leather bag or a briefcase on Budget Day

In India, the Budget Box is not passed from one finance minister to its successor, however, the tradition of carrying it has long continued till date./ PTI FILE IMAGE

Budget 2019: Have you ever wondered why the Finance Ministers always carry a Red Bag on their keynote Budget Speech every year? Well, the tradition of carrying Red “Bougette” aka leather bag or a briefcase on Budget Day dates back to Independent India’s first financial Budget that was presented by the country’s first Finance Minister Shri RK Shanmukham Chetty. The then-FM carried all his budget papers on 26th November 1947 in a leather briefcase and brought it to the Parliament as India witnessed the roadmap of its upsurge post freedom from the British rule. However, it was not the first time a Finance Minister was carrying his much guarded fiscal repertoire in a bougette. The custom of carrying a leather briefcase is over a century and half old, and dates back to the 19^th century in the Great Britain when the Queen presented a Red leather briefcase to Chief William Ewart Gladstone, former Prime Minister and the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer known for his lengthy speeches that required piles of financial papers. The Gladstone budget box was embossed with the Queen’s monogram in gold and was passed on years after years from 1860 to 2010 (with some exceptions from 1964-67 and 1997 to 2007). The customary bag now occupies its place at the Cabinet War Rooms in London due to its fragility and battered condition. In India, the Budget Box is not passed from one finance minister to its successor, however, the tradition of carrying it has long continued till date.