President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday offered ‘dahi-chini’ (curd-sugar), considered auspicious, to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman when she arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhavan ahead of presenting the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha today.
As per the tradition, Sitharaman and MoS (Finance) Pankaj Choudhary met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before heading to Parliament.
Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman along with Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget. The… pic.twitter.com/y386kgOyUG— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) July 23, 2024
After meeting the President, the ministers left for the Parliament. The Union Cabinet met thereafter to clear the Budget.
Before the actual presentation in Parliament, the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will approve the Budget for fiscal 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025).
Earlier today, Sitharaman keeping up the tradition of ditching the traditional briefcase for ‘bahi-khata’ and ultimately a paperless document stored digitally, carried a tablet wrapped in a ‘bahi khata’-styled pouch outside the Finance Ministry.
Draped in a white silk saree with magenta border, the finance minister posed for the traditional ‘briefcase’ picture outside her office, along with her team of officials, before heading to meet the President.
The economy is projected to expand by 6.5-7 per cent in the current fiscal, as per the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Monday.
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