India's Budget 2026-27 on Feb 1: Sitharaman's record & economic outlook

New Delhi: The central government has announced the dates of the general budget for the financial year 2026-27. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget in Parliament on 1 February 2026, Sunday at 11 pm. This will be the first time in recent years when the Union Budget will be presented on Sunday, although it does not deviate from tradition. Before the budget, President Draupadi Murmu will address a joint session of Parliament on January 28, which will start the budget session and the Economic Survey will be presented on 29 January. Presenting the budget at the end of the week is not new. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget of 2025 on Saturday.

The session will be held in two phases

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First phase: 28 January to 13 February 2026

Phase 2:9 March to 2 April 2026

This budget will be the ninth consecutive budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. With this, she will become the first woman finance minister to present such a budget continuously. She will come closest to former prime minister Morarji Desai's record (total 10 budgets). She assumed the post of India's first full-time female finance minister in the year 2019.

The tradition of presenting the budget on 1 February has been going on since 2017. Earlier, the budget was presented on the last day of February i.e. 28th February. This change in date was made during the tenure of former finance minister Arun Jaitley, so that budget proposals can be implemented before the new financial year starting from 1 April.

This will be the 88th general budget of the country after independence.

Earlier in the year 1999, then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had also presented the budget on Sunday, 28th February.

Sant Guru Ravidas Jayanti is also celebrated on 1 February 2026, due to which some states will have a public holiday, but it will not have any impact on presenting the budget.

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According to the estimate released by the government on January 7, the country's economy is expected to grow at a rate of 7.4% in the current financial year 2025-26. This is higher than the 6.5% increase in the previous financial year 2024-25. The Indian economy remains strong despite global challenges and trade tensions.