Budget expectations Highlights: Budget Session to start from 28 January, will presentation be on Sunday or Monday?

Updates to this blog has stopped. Keep an eye on Livemint for more updates on upcoming Budget 2026.

Budget expectations LIVE updates: Ashish Singhal, Co-founder, CoinSwitch, said that the Indian virtual digital assets (VDA) ecosystem operators are seeking that the government will revisit their tax framework in a manner beneficial to both investors and the government.

“India’s VDA ecosystem is at a pivotal stage, with growing adoption across the country. However, the current tax framework presents challenges for retail participants by taxing transactions without recognising losses, creating friction rather than fairness. A reduction in TDS on VDA transactions from 1% to 0.01% could improve liquidity, ease compliance, and enhance transparency while preserving transaction traceability. Raising the TDS threshold to ₹5 lakh would help protect small investors from disproportionate impact,” said the expert.

“Introduced in 2022 as a stand-in for regulation at that time, VDA taxation has since been complemented by strong oversight from FIU-IND and improved compliance. This Budget presents a great opportunity to revisit the framework in a manner beneficial to both investors and the government. We remain hopeful that the government will recognise this gap and consider reviewing the current framework soon,” said Singhal.

Budget expectations LIVE updates: Shwetank Singh, Executive Director, Chalet Hotels Limited, said that the Indian hospitality sector is awaiting the Union Budget 2026 with measured optimism as the industry seeks infrastructure status.

“As we approach the 2026 Budget, India's hospitality sector waits with measured optimism. We've created 46.5 million jobs and are projected to support 64 million by 2035, yet do not get classified as infrastructure, which is a looming constraint on scale,” said Singh.

Shwetank Singh highlighted that the Budget 2025 extended infrastructure status to hotels in 50 select destinations. However, the sector needs comprehensive recognition.

“Infrastructure classification unlocks soft financing, lower utility tariffs and rationalised property taxes, support that is routinely granted to highways and ports, but withheld from hotels despite equivalent capital intensity,” said the industry expert.

This move seeks to bring tourism into the concurrent list and policy coordination between the central and state governments.

Budget expectations LIVE updates: Aniruddha Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Umiya Buildcon, said that the Union Budget 2026 presents a key opportunity for the Indian real estate sector to enhance housing affordability, reduce financing costs, and incentivise sustainable development.

“The Union Budget 2026 is a key opportunity to strengthen India’s real estate sector, particularly as urban housing demand continues to rise, with double-digit price growth observed in major cities over the past year. For developers, policy measures that enhance housing affordability, reduce financing costs, and incentivise sustainable development will be critical to sustaining growth and meeting rising demand,” said Mehta.

“Increasing tax benefits on housing loans under Section 24(b) could ease financial pressure on homebuyers, while enhancing incentives under Section 80-IBA for affordable housing projects would encourage developers to expand inclusive housing supply, addressing a nationwide shortfall of several million units,” said the expert.

Aniruddha Mehta also reflected that with interest rates stabilising and strong urban housing demand, a well-balanced budget that supports both buyers and developers has the potential to unlock investment, boost employment, and contribute to the country’s infrastructure and economic goals in 2026.

Budget expectations LIVE updates: Prateek Jain, Co-Founder & COO, Addverb, said that India is at a critical phase of its manufacturing and industrial evolution, and the country's emphasis must now be on creating globally competitive manufacturing abilities with the help of smart automation.

“Software-led automation is increasingly becoming the driver of this evolution as it brings robotics, systems, and workflows together into a unified execution layer. Modular automation is being implemented in live brownfield settings to enhance throughput, consistency and operational reliability, as well as permit effective human-machine cooperation,” said the expert.

“With Union Budget 2026 approaching, this momentum can be further fuelled by continued policy support of manufacturing-based R&D, wider automation, and greater indigenisation of hardware, software, and systems integration. With India shifting beyond automation deployment to automation IP design and ownership, smart factories and agile supply chains will characterise its leadership in the advanced manufacturing,” said Jain.

Budget expectations LIVE updates: Deepak Aggarwal, Co-founder, Co-CEO, and CFO of Moneyboxx Finance Ltd, said that the Union Budget 2026 will focus on rural and semi-urban MSMEs and first-time borrowers for the government's financial inclusion agenda.

“NBFCs have become the primary conduit of formal credit in these markets, supporting agri-allied businesses, services, and small manufacturing units. Establishing a structured refinance mechanism for MSMEs and priority-sector lending would ensure uninterrupted and affordable credit for rural and semi-urban entrepreneurs,” the expert said.

Aggarwal highlighted that the clarity of policies under recovery mechanisms and simplified compliance norms are equally critical to sustain lending momentum without increasing borrower stress.

“Achieving regulatory and tax parity with banks will enable NBFCs to deploy capital more efficiently at the grassroots. Budget 2026 must acknowledge the systemic role NBFCs play in rural and semi-urban India’s growth story and strengthen them accordingly,” said Deepak Aggarwal.

According to SB Seker, Head of APAC at Binance, this budget presents an opportunity to strengthen the virtual digital assets (VDA) ecosystem “through measured regulatory and tax refinements that protect users, maintain financial stability, and support responsible market development”.

“From a tax perspective, a pragmatic framework focused on capital gains realised, with provisions for limited loss set off and removal on transaction level levies in favour of net-revenue generating corporate taxes instead, can improve fairness for retail participants and indicate to them India has moved past the tax-and-deter regime towards a fuller license-and-supervise one,” he added.

Further, Seker feels that clear, consistent operating standards for VDA platforms, aligned with KYC and investor protection priorities, will encourage responsible capital investment, create skilled jobs, and build domestic capabilities.

According to Sam chopra of eXp Realty India, escrow enforcement and transaction formalisation is a key area that the coming Budget should focus on. “Mandating stricter usage and third-party monitoring of escrow mechanisms across developers, brokerages and resale markets can significantly curb underreporting, prevent revenue leakage and protect consumer funds,” he said.

Adding, “Equally important is accelerating the digitisation of title, verification and property registry systems. Despite policy-level progress, the on-ground reality remains fragmented. A centrally incentivised framework linked to state-level execution milestones can help create a unified property verification backbone especially vital in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where risks of fraud and opacity remain higher.”

According to Ankit Aggarwal, Founder of Unstop, the upcoming budget can play a critical role in unlocking India’s talent potential.

“The government should extend ESOP tax deferral to all DPIIT-recognised startups, with taxation only at the point of liquidity. Similarly, reducing or eliminating GST on professional courses, certifications, and training in AI, data, digital, and emerging technologies will make learning more accessible and empower individuals and businesses to thrive in a rapidly changing economy,” he feels.

India's hospitality sector is awaiting Union Budget 2026 with measured optimism, according to Shwetank Singh, Executive Director at Chalet Hotels. He hopes that the sector is classified as infrastructure to address looming constraint on scale.

“The 2025-26 Union Budget extended infrastructure status to hotels in 50 select destinations, but the sector needs comprehensive recognition. Infrastructure classification unlocks soft financing, lower utility tariffs and rationalized property taxes, support that is routinely granted to highways and ports, but withheld from hotels despite equivalent capital intensity,” as per Singh.

He added that it is also critical that tourism is brought into the concurrent list and that policy coordination between center and states on the matter is streamlined. This way, “the pathway to $1 trillion contribution to the GDP from the sector would then be closer to reality,” he added.

A week prior to the presentation of the Union Budget, the Finance Ministry hosts a special ‘halwa ceremony’, which marks the beginning of the process of printing the Union Budget.

The ceremony takes place in the basement of the Finance Ministry in Central Delhi.

Historically, India's Union Budget used to be presented around 5 pm on the last working day of February, a practice inherited from the British colonial era.

However, since 1999 and continuing to date, the timing has been shifted to 11 am to align with market hours, parliamentary business, and same-day analysis by stakeholders.

However, when it comes to the words of the document, late former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 1991 has Nirmala Sitharaman beat when it comes to word count.

Manmohan Singh’s speech as Finance Minister, delivered in 1991, had 18,650 words.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered the longest budget speech in terms of duration — speaking for two hours and 42 minutes.

The speech began at 11 AM and continued till 1:40 PM. During the latter parts, she felt unwell and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla completed the speech.

Although high security was maintained during the printing of the Union Budget, it was leaked in 1950, before the then Finance Minister John Mathai was set to present the Union Budget in Parliament.

Following the leak, the printing of the Budget was shifted from Rashtrapati Bhawan to Minto Road. After 1980, the budget printing process shifted to the North Block basement.

The 92-year-old separation of India's Railway budget (usually presented a few days before the Budget) from the Union Budget ended after the government decided to merge the two starting from FY2017-18.

Over the years, the presentation of the Budget document in Parliament has evolved from a briefcase to the Bahi Khata, and now a tablet.

The desi makeover was first used in 2019, by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who replaced the old ‘budget briefcase’ with a red-coloured ‘bahi khata’.

Later, during COVID-19 pandemic, the Budget moved to paperless form and Budget of 2021-22 was presented by Sitharaman on a digital tablet.

There is no official announcement from the government regarding whether the Budget will be presented on Sunday (1 February) or Monday. Traditionally, the Union Budgets are presented on 1 February annually.

Sources told PTI that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the Budget on Sunday, stating, “We have a fixed day for the presentation of the general budget. The concept of Sunday was brought by the British.”

Meanwhile, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has stated that the exact date will be decided by the Cabinet Committee.

While an unusual practice, this will not be the first time a Union Budget presentation has been conducted on a Sunday. Prior to this, Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has presented a budget on a Sunday (28 February 1999).

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories in New Delhi, during the Pre-Budget meeting on 10 January.

Meanwhile, the date is not officially confirmed, but PTI cited sources to report that Sitharaman will likely present the Budget document in Parliament on 1 February, despite it being a Sunday.

• During a calendar year, the Budget Session marks the first session of Parliament.
• It begins with the President's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses.
• The parliamentary session usually consists of two parts, with a break in between to enable standing committees to review the demands for grants from various ministries.
• Similar to the Winter Session of Parliament, the Budget Session is also expected to feature a range of legislation being introduced or discussed.

The Union Budget 2026 Session is set to start in Parliament from 28 January, minister Kiren Rijiju said, giving details of the timeline on X.

He added that President Droupadi Murmu has approved summoning both Houses of Parliament for the 2026 Budget Session.

Check timeline:

• The Session will commence on 28 January 2026 and continue till 2 April 2026.
• The first phase concludes on 13 February 2026, with Parliament reassembling on 9 March 2026.

Good morning and welcome to Mint's LIVE coverage ahead of the Union Budget 2026, as we bring you the latest news and updates and industry expectations ahead of the official announcement this year.