NEW DELHI: The budget for 2026-27 is likely to be presented on February 1, the first, in recent memory, to be presented on a Sunday.The budget session may start from Jan 28 with the President’s speech. Though the final call on the date will be taken by the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs (CCPA) on Wednesday, TOI has learnt that govt may continue with the tradition of presenting the budget on February 1.Since 2017, govt has been presenting the budget at 11 am on February 1 and former FM Arun Jaitley had unveiled it for the first time on the first day of Feb after govt decided to advance the budget presentation. Prior to 2017, the budget was presented on February 28.This year Feb 1 falls on a Sunday. It is also Guru Ravidas Jayanti, a restricted holiday. Being a holiday, govt offices and the stock markets are closed on Sunday.People aware of the development said that the Economic Survey would be presented on January 29. The next two days — January 30 and 31 — would be holidays. The first part of the budget session is likely to be for three weeks and the second part will last for four weeks. In 2025, February 1 fell on a Saturday and govt presented the interim budget that day. The Union budget had been presented on a Saturday before too, including in 1999 when then finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who read out the budget on February 27, a Saturday. This also marked the beginning of budget speech at 11 am instead of 5 pm, a departure from colonial practice.The 2026-27 budget is keenly awaited as it comes at a time of geopolitical tensions and under the shadow of Trump’s tariffs. Government is expected to unleash reform measures to shield growth and the country’s standing as one of the fastest growing major economies in the world .They added that the themes have been chosen considering govt’s focus to achieve the goal of a developed nation by undertaking major reforms to push growth against the backdrop of global challenges.TOI has also learnt that getting rid of the “mentality of slavery” and the thrust on “reform, perform and transform” are likely to be the central themes of the President’s address at the joint sitting of Parliament on Jan 28. Different ministries have been asked to give their inputs based on these themes for the President’s speech.Removing traces of colonialism has become the talking point for the govt since August 15, 2022, when PM Narendra Modi spoke about it from the ramparts of the Red Fort. This was also one of the five pledges (Panch Pran). “When we see even the smallest thing related to colonialism in us or around us, we have to be rid of it… Indians should shed ‘colonialism’ from their minds and habits,” PM Modi had said.
