Nirmala Sitharaman Goes for Tussar Handloom Blue and Cream Kantha Saree for Budget Presentation

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman opted for a Tussar handloom blue and cream Kantha saree in her sartorial choice for the presentation of interim budget 2024. Sitharaman, who will present the government’s vote-on-account in Parliament, posed for photo-ops with the traditional ‘bahi khata’ tablet with senior officials in front of the Finance Ministry.

The saree is Bengal Kantha in mulberry silk while the colour is also known as ‘Ramar blue’ in Tamil Nadu, a nod to the recent Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Temple in UP’s Ayodhya.

Last year, the Finance Minister had worn hand-woven ‘Ilkal’ silk saree with traditional ‘Kasuti’ work from Karnataka’s Dharwad region. Nirmala Sitharaman is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.

Kasuti is a traditional form of folk embroidery craft, with a geographical indication (GI) tag, said to be unique to Dharwad region. The hand-made kasuti work generally includes embroidery work of chariots, elephants, temple ‘gopura’, peacocks, deer, and lotus.

The one worn by Sitharaman for the 2023 Budget presentation is said to have had works of chariots, peacocks, and lotus on it. The heavy silk (800 gm) saree was designed by ‘Arathi Crafts’ owned by Arati Hiremath in Dharwad.

In 2022, the Finance Minister took a break from bright coloured-red hues to sport a red-brown rust silk saree with orange tint.

She had donned a crisp red-coloured saree for the 2021 Budget presentation, with off-white detailing and golden border.

In the year before, she had opted for a yellow saree, considered to be auspicious for festive occasions. In 2019, Nirmala Sitharaman had draped a pink Mangalgiri saree with gold trim.

Nirmala Sitharaman will set a record by presenting the sixth Budget in a row — 5 annual Budgets and one interim — a feat achieved so far only by former prime minister Morarji Desai.

With the presentation of interim Budget on February 1, Sitharaman will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row. Desai, as finance minister, had presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959-1964.

The interim Budget 2024-25 will be a vote-on-account that will give the government authority to spend certain sums of money till a new government comes to office after the April-May general elections.

A vote-on-account, once approved by Parliament, will authorise the government to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India on pro-rata basis to meet expenditure for the April-July period.

The new government, which is likely to be formed around June, will come up with a final Budget for 2024-25 sometime in July.