Budget 2020: Sitharaman reaches Finance Ministry, meets President Kovind

Sitharaman will present her second budget in the Parliament at 11 am today. Before presenting the budget, she will meet President Ram Nath Kovind

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday morning reached the Ministry of Finance in the North Block, ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget 2020-2021 in Parliament.

Sitharaman will present her second budget in the Parliament at 11 am today. Before presenting the budget, she 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.

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 per cent 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.