Budget 2026: Date and time, where and how to watch speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Budget 2026: The Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on 1 February 2026, Sunday. This will be Sitharaman's ninth consecutive Budget speech and is the first time that the India Union Budget will be presented on a Sunday in at least a decade.

The Halwa ceremony, which marks the final stage of the preparation process for Union Budget 2026-27, was held on 27 January in the Budget Press at North Block, in the presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Halwa ceremony takes place before officials are locked in to prepare the Union Budget.

On 28 January, the Budget Session commenced with a joint address by President Droupadi Murmu to both the Houses of Parliament. And Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2026, which presents a comprehensive state of the economy, on 29 January.

Budget date and time: When is Budget this year?

Union Budget 2026 will be presented by Sitharaman at 11 am on 1 February 2026, Sunday before both houses of Parliament.

Key sectors to look out for this year include artificial intelligence, auto, defense, electronics, infrastructure, manufacturing, MSMEs, railways, renewable energy, and urban development among others. Besides this, other sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, logistics and tourism, are also likely to get allocations from the Centre.

Further, the first half of the Budget Session ends on 13 February, and the second half will begin on 9 March. The final day of the Budget Session will be on 2 April, after which Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be adjourned sine die.

Where and how to watch Budget 2026 speech?

People who are looking to catch live video coverage of the Union Budget 2026, they can stay tuned with Mint on our official website LiveMint or on our YouTube channel.

People can also track the government's broadcast via the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha LIVE feed in multiple languages from the Sansad TV channel on YouTube.

The state-run Doordarshan (DD) television channels will also run live feed from Parliament's Budget Session on 1 February.

Besides this, the official Union Budget website (indiabudget.gov.in), the Finance Ministry's official social media pages, and the Press Information Bureau's (PIB) official social media pages will also host the live video feed.

Economic Survey 2026: What were the broad indicators ahead of Budget speech?

Notably, the government's health report of the Indian economy, the Economic Survey 2026 was tabled in Parliament on 29 January. The document, by identifying challenges and other issues, also gives crucial context for policy direction.

Notably, prior to 1964, the Economic Survey was part of the Budget presentation and served as an official economic record to inform budgetary discussions in Parliament. From 1964 onwards, it was separated from the Union Budget to provide lawmakers and the public with important economic context, including data-driven views at the condition of the economy.

• According to the Economic Survey 2026, the Indian economy is expected to expand by 6.8-7.2% in FY27, supported by strong macro fundamentals and a series of regulatory reforms.
• The survey also found that India’s core and headline inflation rates are likely to be higher in FY27 than in FY26.
• However, it is unlikely to be a concern. As of November 2025, India's fiscal deficit stood at 62.3% of the Budget Estimates, and the government aims to attain a fiscal deficit target of 4.4% of GDP by FY26, the survey noted.