Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget for the financial year 2026-27 in Parliament Sunday. This will be her ninth consecutive Budget speech since taking on the role in 2019.
The presentation will begin around 11 am in Lok Sabha, after which a copy will be tabled in Rajya Sabha. This will also be the second full-year budget of Modi 3.0. The presentation, like every year, will come after several pre-consultations held by the finance ministry with multiple stakeholders from various sectors of the economy, and will set the economic and fiscal roadmap for the next fiscal year.
For the preparation of the budget, Sitharaman is supported by a team of senior secretaries and officers, including Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur, Revenue Secretary Arvind Shrivastava, Expenditure Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam, Financial Services Secretary M. Nagaraju, DIPAM Secretary Arunish Chawla, Public Enterprises Secretary K. Moses Chalai, and Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran.
As highlighted in the Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled on 29 January, India remains the fastest-growing major economy. India’s economy is estimated to grow 7.4 percent in FY26, with Gross Value Added growth at 7.3 percent.
For FY27, the GDP growth is projected to be in the range of 6.8-7.2 percent, even as the global economy remains fragile.
After her speech, the Finance Minister will interact with around 30 college students from across the country.
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10.15 am: Sluggish recovery after slow first hour
Stock indices Sensex and Nifty see slightly recovery after a slow first hour. BSE Sensex at 82,428, and Nifty at 25,335, as of 10:15 am.
Gold and silver prices plummeted up to 9 percent in the futures market, hitting the lower circuit ahead of the Union Budget. The precious metals prices crashed globally Friday, wiping out $5 trillion in market cap.
9.55 am: Finance minister arrives at Parliament
Nirmala Sitharaman with the Budget tablet outside Sansad Bhawan.
#WATCH | Delhi | Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her ninth consecutive Union Budget today pic.twitter.com/GqjyTDhYp1
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2026
9.50 am: Sitharaman meets President Murmu
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team meet President Droupadi Murmu ahead of the budget speech.
#WATCH | Delhi | Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with her team, calls on President Droupadi Murmu before presenting her ninth consecutive Union Budget pic.twitter.com/96H5JV5obv
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2026
9.40 am: Key expectations from the budget
What are the expectations from Union Budget 2026? Join our broadcast LIVE with Bidisha Bhattacharya & Sabika Syed. Ask your questions.
9.30 am: Flat opening for markets
The stock markets open rather flat, with the benchmark indices slipping into the red zone. Sensex fell by 295 points to 82,271, and Nifty dropped by 126.8 points to 25,292, as of 9:25 am.
9.15 am: India has an import dependency problem. What Budget 2026 can change
The International Monetary Fund has consistently identified the country as the fastest growing major economy and a significant contributor to global economic growth, particularly at a time when most of the other regions are experiencing a slowdown. This assessment is indicative of robust domestic demand, public investment, and macroeconomic stability. However, maintaining this momentum necessitates an examination beyond mere headline growth figures. It requires critical analysis of India’s production, import patterns, and underlying reasons.
Within this analysis lies a subtle contradiction: India remains reliant on imports in sectors where it should not be.
This is most evident in the food and agriculture sectors. Despite being one of the largest global producers of crops, India imports approximately 60 per cent of its edible oil consumption, regularly imports 2-3 million tonnes of pulses, and is increasingly reliant on imports for animal feed. At the same time, rice production consistently surpasses domestic requirements, necessitating either exports or costly storage solutions. This simultaneous occurrence of surplus and shortage is not quite imposed by nature, but rather shaped by policy.
Read Bidisha Bhattacharya’s column.
9.05 am: The Budget tablet
Finance Minister Sitharaman and team pose with the Union Budget tablet outside the Minister of Finance.
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8.40 am: Sitharaman arrives at finance ministry
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrives at the Ministry of Finance in Kartavya Bhavan 1 ahead of the Union Budget 2026.
Photos: Suraj Singh Bisht @Surajbisht25 #ThePrintPictures pic.twitter.com/2ga80aCEty
— ThePrintIndia (@ThePrintIndia) February 1, 2026
8.30 am: India ‘tamed’ inflation in FY26, but Economic Survey projects it to remain higher in FY27
While 2025 was a year which saw a continued decline in inflation figures, the Economic Survey says the inflation rate, headline and core—excluding precious metals—are projected to remain higher in FY27 than in FY26. It, however, adds that this wasn’t a reason for concern. “The trajectory of core inflation will need to be closely monitored in the context of monetary policy easing and potential upward pressures from global base metal prices,” the pre-Budget survey said.
Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said the document predicted headline inflation to be around 1.7 percent for at least the initial nine months of the year, primarily due to deflation in the food price index. The core inflation figure (including gold and silver) is pegged at 2.9 percent for FY 2026-27, he added.
At 1.8 percentage points in FY 2025-26, India recorded one of the sharpest declines in headline inflation among Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs).
Read Sampurna Panigrahi’s report.
8.00 am: Top takeaways from Economic Survey 2025-26
The Economic Survey 2025–26 was tabled in Parliament Thursday. It is the government’s most comprehensive report card on the Indian economy and it also sets the intellectual framework for the Union Budget.
The survey revises India’s potential medium-term growth rate upward to about 7 percent, from around 6.5 percent three years ago. This revision is significant because it reflects changes in the economy’s capacity, not just a good year. Growth is no longer being described as policy-driven or temporary. The survey is effectively saying India’s growth ceiling has moved up, but only if reforms continue.
The survey also repeatedly cautions that the world economy is entering a period of permanent uncertainty—from geopolitics to trade and capital flows. Yet, India is described as “relatively better off” due to its domestic market size, macro stability, and strategic autonomy. This is not optimism, it’s calibrated realism. The survey is saying India can grow steadily, but not by ignoring global risks, only by managing them better than others.
Meanwhile, India’s average headline CPI inflation between April and December 2025 was just 1.7 percent, the lowest since the CPI series began. The decline was driven mainly by food and fuel prices, which together account for 52.7 percent of the CPI basket. Crucially, inflation has fallen without a collapse in demand. This implies that inflation has been controlled through supply improvements, not economic pain. That’s the difference between stability that lasts and stability that cracks later.
Read Bidisha Bhattacharya’s top 10 takeaways from the Economic Survey.
Also Read: India ‘tamed’ inflation in FY26, but Economic Survey projects it to remain higher in FY27