Will stock markets open on 1st February?
Budget 2026: The upcoming date of 1st February 2026 is going to be very important for the Indian economy and stock market. The date of presentation of the Central Government’s Budget 2026-27 has been approved in the Parliament. After the approval of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and President Draupadi Murmu, it has become clear that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the country’s accounts on February 1 itself. But, this time the date has brought with it a big confusion. Actually, 1st February is Sunday. On normal days, the stock markets are closed on Sundays, but investors are not able to digest the market being closed on the days of big events like the budget. In such a situation, there is only one question in everyone’s mind, will the trading bell ring in the stock market this Sunday?
Waiting for NSE’s decision
The day of budget and the movement of stock market, both go hand in hand. During the budget speech, fluctuations are seen in Nifty and Sensex on every announcement. Since 1st February is Sunday this time, the suspense regarding the market has deepened. Generally BSE and NSE remain closed on Sunday, but this occasion is special.
In December 2025, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) had issued a notification indicating that they were considering opening trading on Budget day i.e. Sunday. However, the exchange had also made it clear that this decision would depend on the formal announcement of the government and technical preparations. Now that the government has fixed the date, it is believed that NSE and BSE will soon clarify their final position on this. Generally BSE also takes the same decisions as NSE.
Such a coincidence is happening after 26 years
This is not the first time that the budget is being presented on a holiday. Even during the previous tenure of Modi government, budgets were presented on Saturday. In the year 2015, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had presented the budget on Saturday and last year’s budget also came on Saturday. But, the incident of budget presentation on Sunday is quite rare. Such a coincidence has happened after about 26 years. Earlier in the year 2000, the budget was presented on Sunday.