FM Nirmala Sitharaman all set to present Union Budget 2020, begins day with traditional red bhai-khata

Ahead of the Budget presentation, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team met President Ram Nath Kovind with the bahi-khata 

New Delhi: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday morning reached the ministry of finance in the North Block, ahead of the presentation of Union Budget 2020-2021 in the Parliament.

Sitharaman will present her second budget in the Parliament at 11 am today. Before presenting the budget, she and her team met President Ram Nath Kovind. The duration of the budget speech usually ranges from 90 to 120 minutes.

Dressed in a yellow silk saree, Sitharaman continued with the tradition she set last year carrying the bahi-khata, which she used ditching the briefcase. She was seen holding a red bahi khata.

Also watch: Union Budget 2020: Expectations of businessmen

On the first day of the budget session of the Parliament, Sitharaman on Friday tabled the pre-budget Economic Survey for 2019-20, which projected the state of the economy and outlined its challenges. The survey was released by chief economic adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian.

According to the Economic Survey 2020, which was tabled in the Parliament on Friday, India's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow at a rate of 6 to 6.5% in the next financial year 2020-21.

Sitharaman had presented her maiden budget in July last year, shortly after the Narendra Modi government came back to power in the Centre in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

As India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present her second budget, India hopes its economy will improve and various sectors like automobile and jobs will also see brighter prospects.