Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman begins presenting Union Budget 2019

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has started presenting the Union Budget in the Parliament.

Union Cabinet approved the budget ahead of its presentation in the parliament.

The first budget of Narendra Modi government's second tenure is the maiden one for Sitharaman, who is the second woman finance minister of India after Indira Gandhi.

Sitharaman's parents, Savitri and Narayanan Sitharaman, are also present in the Parliament.

The Finance Minister on Thursday tabled in Parliament the pre-Budget Economic Survey for 2018-19, which projected the state of the economy and outlined its challenges. The survey was released by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian on Thursday.

This is the 89th Union Budget, which is the financial statement of the government, detailing its revenue and expenditure in the past, as well as estimated spending and projections for the coming year.

-ANI