The Cabinet Committee of Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Wednesday approved the key dates for the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament. According to the Parliament calendar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2026-27 on February 1, Sunday.
With this, it will be the first time that the Union Budget is presented on a Sunday. The President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament will be held on January 28, marking the start of the Budget Session. The Economic Survey will be tabled in Parliament on January 29. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her eighth consecutive Union Budget, which will also be the 80th Budget since Independence. Since 2017, the government has followed the practice of presenting the Union Budget at 11 am on February 1, after advancing it from the earlier tradition of February 28.
The shift was first implemented during the tenure of former finance minister Arun Jaitley, with the aim of ensuring quicker implementation of budgetary proposals from the start of the new financial year. Sitharaman will also create history by becoming the first finance minister to present nine consecutive Union Budgets. This would bring her closer to the record held by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who presented a total of 10 Budgets across two stints — six between 1959 and 1964, and four between 1967 and 1969. Among other recent finance ministers, P Chidambaram had presented nine Budgets, while Pranab Mukherjee presented eight Budgets during their respective tenures under different prime ministers.