New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her eighth consecutive Union Budget today, expected to address key challenges including slow economic growth, a slump in consumption and the dwindling value of the Rupee against the US dollar.
All eyes, however, would be on income tax slabs as reports are abuzz that the Finance Minister is set to announce a major change in them, with some even saying that the government may not charge any tax on income of upto 10 lakh per year in order to boost consumption and provide the much needed relief to the middle class.
On Friday as the Budget session of the Parliament began, FM Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey prepared by Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran. The Economic Survey predicted India’s economy would likely grow at the rate of 6.3-6.8 per cent this financial year.
"The fundamentals of the domestic economy remain robust, with a strong external account, calibrated fiscal consolidation and stable private consumption. On the balance of these considerations, we expect that the growth in FY26 would be between 6.3 and 6.8 per cent," the Economic Survey reads.
When and how to watch Budget 2025 speech live?
The Union Budget 2025 will be presented live on February 1, starting at 11 AM. You can watch the live stream on the official Union Budget website and Sansad TV. ETV Bharat will also livestream the budget speech and run a live blog on the key announcements the Finance Minister makes in her speech.
The challenges
The Union Budget 2025-26 comes amid a difficult global scenario, impacting the Indian market as well. In FY25, the economic growth of 6.3-6.8 per cent is the lowest since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic which hit the world in 2019.
Apart from an uncertain geopolitical situation, key challenges Sitharaman faces include economic deceleration, moderation in consumption, and stagnant private investment. The key task before the Finance Minister and her team would be to push growth without compromising on fiscal prudence.
The Budget 2025-26 team
The team assisting Finance Minister Sitharaman in framing Budget proposals for 2025-26 includes Revenue Secretary Tuhin Pandey, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, Expenditure Secretary Manoj Govil, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Arunish Chawla, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, and Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.
Most budgets on the trot
Sitharaman has presented a total of seven straight budgets, including an interim one in February 2024. She is set to continue a record streak of delivering the Union Budget uninterrupted for eight consecutive years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
She became India's first full-time female Finance Minister in 2019, following Modi’s second-term victory. When Modi returned to power for a third term in 2024, she retained her finance portfolio, further solidifying her place in history.
Presenting her 8th consecutive budget, Sitharaman is closer to the record of 10 budgets that were presented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai over different time periods. Desai presented 6 budgets during his tenure from 1959 to 1964 and another 4 between 1967 and 1969. P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee, presented 9 and 8 budgets, respectively, under different Prime Ministers.
Briefcase to bahi-khata to paperless
In 2019, Sitharaman made a significant change in the way the Budget was presented. Instead of the traditional leather briefcase, she carried a 'bahi-khata', a symbolic red cloth-wrapped ledger, honoring India’s cultural heritage. Since then, the Budget has been delivered in a paperless format, a shift that has continued for the last three years.
Longest and shortest Budget speeches
Sitharaman also holds the record for the longest Budget speech. In 2020, she spoke for a staggering two hours and 40 minutes before having to cut her speech short, with two pages still left to read. The shortest Budget speech was delivered by Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel in 1977, which lasted only 800 words.
Why was the Budget date moved to February 1?
As for the date and timing of the Union Budget, the tradition has evolved over time. The Budget was originally presented on the last day of February at 5 pm, a practice dating back to the colonial era. This timing allowed for simultaneous announcements in London and India, as the country was 4 hours and 30 minutes ahead of British Summer Time.
In 1999, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, moved the presentation to 11 am. The presentation date was later shifted to February 1 in 2017 to allow for quicker Parliamentary approval and timely implementation of the Budget, starting from April 1 — at the beginning of the fiscal year. Before this change, when the Budget was presented on February 29, it often meant the implementation would not begin until May or June due to the lengthy parliamentary approval process.
