Union Budget 2026: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present India Budget 2026 on 1 February, Sunday, marking a significant milestone for the country as she presents her ninth consecutive Budget.
This is the first time in recent history that the Union Budget is being presented on a Sunday, with the key session being previously held on Saturdays.
While the Budget is being presented on 1 February for the past many years, this has not always been the case.
Here is a history of how the date and time of presenting the Budget evolved over the decades.
Tracing India’s Budget journey
The first Budget of independent India was presented on 26 November, 1947, by Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty.
Since then, things have changed and India has gone forward to become one of the fastest moving economies in the world.
The Budgets have also evolved in these decades, with their dates and times being changed.
When was Budget presented before?
Till 2016, the India Budget was presented on the last working day of February. However, it was changed later.
Change in Budget date
In 2017, then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a historic move to shift the Budget date from the last day of February to 1 February. Since then, Union Budget has always been presented on 1 February, barring the times when interim Budgets were presented due to Lok Sabha elections.
Why was Budget date changed?
In 2017, the government changed the Budget date to streamline the process and ensure a timely presentation of Budget. Apart from this, shifting the Budget date ahead would mean that government and stakeholders would get more time to make changes before the financial year begins in April.
Budget time shift
For decades, the Budget was presented at 5 pm by the finance minister — a colonial-era practice which aligned with UK time zones. But in 1999, Yashwant Sinha moved to change the Budget presentation timing to 11 am.
Since then, the Budget is being presented at the Parliament at 11 am.
Union Budget 2026
Union Budget 2026 will be presented on 1 February, 2026, Sunday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget on this day.
This is the ninth consecutive time that FM Sitharaman is presenting the Budget.
Budget 2026 will focus on the growth of India to a historic place through allocation to different sectors. The key sectors to look out for this year include railways, infrastructure, urban development, manufacturing, auto, defence, electronics, MSME, renewable energy and AI among others.
