A brief budget history: From briefcases to the digital bahikhata

The oscars may ask "Who are you wearing" but when it comes to 'red carpet' of the parliament it is about what you are carrying on the budget day.

The word budget comes from the old French word bougette meaning "small leather purse" so it is no surprise that the piece of luggage steals the spotlight every year.

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But each finance minister has had a different style statement, we take a look back at the brief history of the budget briefcase.

The suitcase with a monogram has colonial roots embossed, called the Gladstone Box after William E Gladstone who in 1860 started the annual custom of the Chancellor of the Exchequer holding up a red box to the press in Downing Street to symbolise the new budget of the UK government.

Over the years we have seen different finance ministers dawn different styles, handpicking their 'handbags'.

India's first finance minister RK Shanmukham Chetty carried a leather portfolio to present the first Budget in 1947

As the finance minister, Manmohan Singh, who delivered the iconic 1991 economic liberalisation proposals, carried a black bag.

In 1998-99, then finance minister Yashwant Sinha used a black coloured leather bag with straps and buckle.

Pranab Mukherjee, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's finance minister, used a red briefcase similar to the Gladstone case of Britain.

Pranab da passed on the baton of the briefcase to the 9 time presenter P Chidambaram who accessorised with the same look though using a softer leather.

The Late Arun Jaitley used three different briefcases in his three budgets though the style matched the traditional budget carrier.

In 2019, Nirmala Sitharaman shed the 'colonial' briefcase to carry a red folder, a bahikhata,with the National Emblem wrapped with a ribbon.

And with the promise of going completely paperless this year, the big question remains, will the digital bahikhata be able to balance a billion expectations?