From Evening Budget To No Halwa Ceremony — Budget Traditions That Have Changed Over Time

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on February 1 present her 4th straight Union Budget when she presents financial statements and tax proposals for the fiscal year 2022-23.

From the shift in date to shift in the time of day when the Union Budget is presented, see the changes in tradition that are followed during presentation of the Union Budget.

Manmohan Singh presenting the Union Budget in 1995, when it would be presented during the evening time (left), Yashwant Sinha was the first minister to present the Union Budget in the morning time (right) | Images: AFP

Former Finace Minister presenting the Union Budget on February 26, 2010 (left). Former Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presenting the Union Budget on February 1, 2019. This practice of changing the date from last day of February to the first day was started by former Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in 2016 | Images: Getty

Union Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu(R) along with Minister Of States(MOS) for railways on his way to Indian Parliament to present Union Railway Budget 2015. The Union Cabinet cleared the merger of the Railway and Union Budget from 2017-18 onward. | Source: Getty

In order to do away with the colonial practice of presenting the Union Budget in a briefcase, Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget of 2018-19 in a 'Bahi Khata' | Images: Getty

Then again next year, Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman made a modification in the convention and presented the budget through a tablet in order to give a push to PM Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' initiative | Images: Getty

One of the key highlights of Union Budget remains the Halwa Ceremony which marks the commencement of Budget documents. The officers reside in the North Block for around 10 days during the preparation of Budget documents till it is presented by the Finance Minister. Due to Covid-19 Halwa Ceremony will not take place this time