As per parliamentary traditions, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to present the Union Budget for the next financial year 2026-27 on Sunday. This is because the Budget has been presented on 1 February every year since 2017, and next year 1 February is falling on a Sunday. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has made it clear that such decisions are taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and the decision will be taken at the right time. The Modi government started the tradition of presenting the budget on February 1 so that it could be implemented before the new financial year, April 1.
Presenting the budget on Sunday will be unique
If the Finance Minister presents the Budget on February 1, 2026, it will be unique, as it will probably be the first time that the Union Budget will be presented on a Sunday. In recent years the budget has not been presented on Sunday. There have been two such occasions when the Union Budget was presented on Saturday. In 2015, Arun Jaitley and in 2020 Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on 1 February (Saturday). In those days the stock market was also opened specially.
From 2017, the date of presenting the budget was changed to 1 February.
A major change was made in the date of presentation of the Union Budget in 2017. Before 2017, the Union Budget was presented on the last day of February. At that time, the government received permission for expenditure for the first three months of the new financial year, while the budget for the entire year was approved later.
In 2017, the central government decided to make a major change. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley started the tradition of presenting the budget on 1 February from 2017. This allowed the budget to be approved by Parliament by the end of March, which meant that all processes were completed before the start of the new financial year. Parliamentary sessions have also taken place on Sundays on special occasions, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and on the 60th anniversary of the first parliamentary session on May 13, 2012.