Union Budget 2026 Live: Sitharaman presents Budget, sets Rs 2.25 lakh Cr Capex action plan

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her ninth Union Budget in Parliament today, 1 February 2026, marking a historic first as India’s Budget is being delivered on a Sunday.

Expectations are high that Budget 2026 will outline measures to sustain economic growth, reinforce fiscal discipline, and advance reforms aimed at insulating the economy from global trade headwinds, including tariffs imposed by the United States.

As the nation tunes in to Sitharaman’s speech, public attention also turns to a familiar Budget-day tradition—the saree she dons while presenting the country’s financial roadmap.

This year, the Finance Minister is wearing a magenta kattam Kanjeevaram silk saree paired with a plain yellow blouse.

The Budget comes against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical uncertainty and a global economy unsettled by renewed protectionism, even as Asia’s third-largest economy presses ahead with its ambitious Viksit Bharat vision.

In this context, Budget 2026 assumes added significance, with a sharp focus on how the government plans, earns, and allocates every rupee. The decisions taken today could play a pivotal role in steering India toward its goal of emerging as the world’s largest economy by 2030.

The government plans to establish a high-powered Education-to-Employment Standing Committee. The panel will focus on optimising growth potential in the services sector and review the impact of emerging technologies, including AI, on employment and skill development.

On Sunday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 10,000 crore investment in the biopharma sector over the next five years, aimed at strengthening India’s pharmaceutical industry. Biopharmaceuticals, or biologics, are advanced medicines developed from living organisms, cells, or tissues, rather than chemical synthesis.

The minister also outlined initiatives across six key areas, including manufacturing, strategic and frontier sectors, healthcare, and advanced technology.

Highlighting the technology push, Sitharaman said the Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will prioritize the production of equipment and materials designed for fully Indian intellectual property (IP). The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), operating under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Digital India Corporation, is tasked with building a sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem.

Sitharaman further announced plans to support mineral-rich states—Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu—in establishing critical mineral facilities.

With PTI inputs

Poll-bound Tamil Nadu and Kerala are set to get rare earth corridors, a move aimed at strengthening India’s critical minerals ecosystem and boosting domestic supply chains.

The government has proposed seven high-speed rail corridors to boost inter-city connectivity. Key routes include Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Chennai, Delhi–Varanasi and Varanasi–Siliguri, among others.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed restructuring Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) as part of reforms in the power financing space. She also announced plans to set up a high-level committee on banking to review the sector and align it with India’s next phase of growth.

India is witnessing a shift in its disease burden, with non-communicable diseases accounting for a growing share of health challenges, highlighting the need for stronger prevention and long-term care strategies, the Finance Minister said in her Budget 2026-27 speech.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed targeted interventions across six priority areas. These include scaling up manufacturing in seven strategic and frontier sectors, rejuvenating legacy industrial sectors, creating champion MSMEs, delivering a strong push to infrastructure, ensuring long-term security and stability, and developing city economic regions.

Budget 2026 is anchored around three key kartavya, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The first focuses on accelerating and sustaining economic growth by boosting competitiveness and building resilience against volatile global conditions.

The second aims to fulfil people’s aspirations by strengthening their capabilities and making them active partners in India’s journey to prosperity.

The third kartavya underscores sab ka saath, sab ka vikas, ensuring every family, community and region has access to resources, amenities and opportunities for meaningful participation.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has risen to present the Budget on the back of fragile trade conditions and heightened global uncertainty.

Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, staged a protest inside the Parliament premises ahead of the Union Budget presentation, demanding a “Budget for the people, not corporates.”

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she does not have high expectations from the Union Budget and will wait to see what the Finance Minister announces.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Budget at its meeting held ahead of the Union Budget presentation. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is now set to present the Budget in the Lok Sabha, after which it will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

Gold and silver prices slumped by up to 9 per cent in futures trade, hitting their lower circuit levels ahead of the Union Budget 2026–27, as investors continued profit booking after the recent record rally.

PTI reported that the sell-off extended for a second straight session. The April gold futures contract on the MCX fell by Rs 13,711 to Rs 1,38,634 per 10 grams, touching its lower circuit during trade.

Cigarettes, pan masala and other tobacco products have become more expensive from today as the government’s revised tax structure comes into force. The new framework introduces an additional excise duty on cigarettes and a fresh health and national security cess on pan masala, replacing the earlier GST-plus-compensation cess regime.

Under the new rules, excise duty on cigarettes varies by length and type, ranging from about Rs 2 per stick for short cigarettes to over Rs 5 for longer variants. The overall tax incidence on cigarettes is now estimated to rise to nearly 60–70 pc , up from around 50–55 pc earlier.