Union Budget 2026-27: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman To Present Financial Plan On Sunday

Union Budget 2026-27 will be presented on February 1, a Sunday, marking a rare weekend budget in recent memory. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deliver the 88th Union Budget since Independence, and the ninth in a row for Sitharaman. The exercise will take place against projections of 7.4% real GDP growth in FY 2025-26.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has cleared the complete Parliament calendar for the Budget Session. The President’s joint address will open the session on January 28. The Economic Survey will be laid in Parliament on January 29. As in recent years, the Union Budget 2026-27 will be presented at 11 am on February 1.

Key dates and schedule for Union Budget 2026

Key events around Union Budget 2026 have been locked in, offering an early roadmap for lawmakers and markets. The government’s First Advance Estimates, released on January 7, are being used to shape the Budget’s macro assumptions. These figures traditionally guide revenue expectations, spending plans, and deficit targets for the financial year beginning April 1, 2026.

Weekend presentation pattern for Union Budget 2026

A Sunday Union Budget is unusual, but weekend presentations are not new. Sitharaman presented Budget 2025 on a Saturday. Earlier, Arun Jaitley delivered the Union Budgets for 2015 and 2016 on February 28, both Saturdays. Since 2017, the Budget date has been advanced from February 28 to February 1 to allow faster rollout of proposals.

Sitharaman is set to create a record by becoming the first finance minister to present nine consecutive Union Budgets. This run further extends Sitharaman’s tenure among India’s longest-serving finance ministers. The upcoming exercise will be the 88th Budget after Independence, reflecting how post-1947 fiscal policy has evolved through different political and economic phases.

Political milestones around Union Budget 2026

The sequence brings Sitharaman close to Morarji Desai’s record. Morarji Desai presented 10 Budgets in total, across two terms in office, with six between 1959 and 1964 and four between 1967 and 1969. Among more recent finance ministers, P Chidambaram presented nine Budgets, while Pranab Mukherjee delivered eight across different governments.

Sitharaman became India’s first full-time woman finance minister in 2019, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned for a second term. Sitharaman kept the finance portfolio when the Modi government won a third consecutive term in 2024. According to a CNBC-TV18 report, internal work on Union Budget 2026 has already begun within the finance ministry and related departments.

The First Advance Estimates released on January 7 project real GDP growth at 7.4% in FY 2025-26, higher than the 6.5% growth recorded a year earlier. The estimate factors in global headwinds, including ongoing tariff war pressures. These projections form a key base for tax assumptions and expenditure planning in Union Budget 2026, to be presented on February 1.

With the session schedule fixed, Union Budget 2026 will bring together a rare Sunday sitting of Parliament, Sitharaman’s ninth straight Budget, and decisions framed around a 7.4% growth outlook. Lawmakers, investors, and young professionals will now track how these numbers and dates translate into tax changes and spending priorities for FY 2026-27.