As we move closer towards the Budget FY2023, we take a look at some budget trivia you may not be aware of...

• The process of printing documents for the Budget begins with the annual ritual of the "Halwa Ceremony". As part of the ritual, 'halwa' is prepared in a big 'kadhai' (vessel) and served to the entire staff in the ministry.

• The word budget is derived from 'bougette' which means small bag in French as we have seen time and again our respective Finance Ministers holding the 'budget bag'.

• Budget papers began to be prepared in Hindi also from 1955-56.

• Nirmala Sitharaman ditched the traditional Budget briefcase in 2019, instead carried a Red packet with the National Emblem wrapped with a ribbon.

• Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister to present the budget as he held the Finance Minister portfolio in 1958-59

• The maximum number of Budgets has been presented by Morarji Desai. He presented budget 10 times.

• In 1991-92, it was the first occasion in Independent India that the interim and final budgets were presented by two ministers of two different political parties.

• Scrapping close to century old practice, in the Budget of 2017 the Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget, a move which was expected to save close to Rs. 10,000 crore.

• Earlier, Budget was presented at 5 pm on the last working day, inherited from colonial era. The practice was put to end in 2001 and the Union Budget is presented at 11 AM since then.

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