On February 1, Nirmala Sitharaman will present her 9th budget as Finance Minister.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the general budget on February 1, 2026. After the Halwa ceremony on Tuesday, the officials related to the budget have been locked in the Finance Ministry premises. They are under tight security and cut off from the outside world. Blue sheets are also in discussion amid high-tech security of budget preparations. This is the sheet which contains important information of the budget.
Blue Sheet is a very confidential document. It contains important data related to the budget. This is considered the blueprint of the budget. The Finance Minister cannot take it out of North Block. This confidential document remains under the supervision of Joint Secretary (Budget). Know why the Blue Sheet is special and how many months it takes to prepare the budget.
Blue sheet is the backbone of the budget
Blue Sheet is confidential due to the presence of important information and data related to the budget. It is also called the backbone of the budget. It is kept very secret. Even though today the Blue Sheet is kept under tight security, there was a time when many information related to the budget was leaked.
There was a year in the history of the Union Budget when the confidential information of the budget was leaked. That was the budget of 1950. Confidential documents related to the Union Budget were leaked from the press of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The documents leaked before the presentation of the budget in the House were discussed in the entire country. After this, the government took many such steps which ensured the secrecy of the budget.
The Union Budget will be presented on 1 February.
Keeping in mind the confidentiality of budget documents, the government implemented the lock-in system. Which simply means that the officers are kept isolated during printing. All the officers and employees involved in the budget process live in the North Block of the Finance Ministry.
To prevent such incidents from happening in the future, a very secure place was chosen for the printing of the Union Budget. The printing of budget documents was shifted from Rashtrapati Bhavan to the Government of India Press located at Minto Road. Not only this, the lock-in tradition was started, according to which the officers and employees related to the budget remain cut off from the outside world when the budget is presented.
union budget 2026
How is the budget prepared? understand in easy language
The budget contains details of the income and expenditure of the government. That means the government has information about where the money will come from and where it will be invested. The work of preparing it rests with the Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs working under the Finance Ministry. The team of this division prepares the budget. Its preparation starts in September and it is presented on 1 February. In this way, it takes about 5 months to prepare the budget. Since the budget is prepared in several stages, it goes through a long process.
- First Step: During this, estimated expenses and needs are assessed. For this, information about estimated expenditure for the new financial year is taken from central ministries, states, union territories, autonomous institutions, departments, military forces. It is analyzed.
- Second step: After the details of needs and expenditure are prepared, the team discusses with economic affairs and revenue departments, businessmen, economists, civil society and farmers. In this stage it is understood how much each person has and what they are.
- third step: In this stage, details of income and expenditure from the departments are prepared. On this basis, the government prepares accounts of estimated earnings and expenses in the coming year. After this, the government talks to state governments, economists and bankers and takes a decision on tax exemption or financial assistance.
- Fourth step: This is the stage of finalizing the budget picture. The Finance Ministry prepares the speech for the budget. Advice is sought when there is a dispute regarding a particular section. In this way a wide-ranging team prepares the budget together. Takes many decisions, but every decision taken for the budget is considered that of the Finance Minister.
- Fifth Step: The day of presenting the budget is the last part of this phase. Before presenting the budget, an important cabinet meeting is held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, in which the budget proposals are approved. After this the Finance Minister presents the budget in the House. This year Nirmala Sitharaman will present her 9th budget as Finance Minister.
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