Budget 2026: From briefcase to bahikhata — How the red ledger entered Parliament

With Budget 2026 just a day away, focus has returned to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s red bahi khaata and what it could hold for different sectors. First introduced in 2019, the traditional red ledger has since een representing not just a functional item, but a conscious shift away from colonial-era customs, towards a more Indian and personal symbol of budgeting.

Moving to the bahi khaata was a part of a wider departure from British-era Budget practices. An earlier shift came during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, when the timing of the Budget presentation was changed from evening to morning, breaking from a schedule originally set to match the opening of the London Stock Exchange.

How bahi khata entered the Parliament

Idea behind the red Bahikhata emerged from FM Sitharaman's memories of her time working in the United Kingdom, where she observed the British chancellor carrying a bag bearing the emblem “EIIR, Elizabeth-II Regina”. She told TOI, “During my days in Britain, the chancellor used to carry a bag with an emblem EIIR, Elizabeth-II Regina. That memory is very strong and I didn’t want to carry a bag which didn’t have EIIR, but had a British hangover. It’s high time we adopted our own thing,” she told TOI at the time of the introduction of bahikhata.

Who made Bahikhata?

The bahi khaata was made and designed by her aunt. “My maami (aunt) made this. She had this official emblem embossed on it. This bag was taken toSiddhivinayak and Mahalaxmi temples (in Mumbai) yesterday. She went there, performed puja, and gave it to me. She came to Parliament and watched the Budget speech,” Sitharaman said.

The traditional bahi khaata is made from cotton cloth and bound with thread, with pages crafted from handmade paper. The red ledger is topped with the national emblem in gold. Until her decision, the leather briefcase had been a constant feature of India’s Budget presentation, used by every finance minister, going from R K Shanmukham Chetty to Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal.