Budget expectations LIVE Updates: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the Union Budget 2026 on Sunday (1 February). Expectations are running high as she is set to deliver her ninth consecutive Budget as finance minister.
Next year, she will equal Moraji Desai’s record of presenting 10 Budgets. As Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman is the only one to have presented nine consecutive budgets. This year is also significant, as it is the second full-fledged Budget of the third term of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre.
What day will the Budget be announced?
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the Union Budget on Sunday (1 February), as per reports, despite confusion over whether the government would opt for either Saturday or Monday instead.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the decision will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs “at an appropriate time”, while PTI cited sources saying: “We have a fixed day for the presentation of the general budget. The concept of Sunday was brought by the British.”
Key dates pre-Budget announcement
- 28 January: The Budget Session will commence at the Parliament with a joint address by President Droupadi Murmu to both the Houses.
- 29 January: According to the provisional calendar issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the House will also meet on this day.
- 31 January: Sitharaman is expected to present the Economic Survey on this day. The Economic Survey, which presents a comprehensive state of the economy, is presented by the finance minister a day ahead of the Budget. The survey is prepared by CEA V Anantha Nageswaran.
- 1 February: Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget 2026 at 11 AM at the Lok Sabha.
- 13 February: The first half of the Budget Session ends.
- 9 March: The second half of the Budget Session will begin on this day.
- 2 April: The final day of the Budget Session, after which Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be adjourned sine die.
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