There was no change in the tax slabs in Budget 2026. Government extended the deadline for revised ITR, announced 7 high speed rail corridors, 3 Ayurvedic AIIMS, affordable medicines and development of tier-2 cities. However, due to increase in STT, its negative impact was seen on the market.
Budget 2026 Updates: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget on Sunday 1 February. There was no major announcement for taxpayers in the budget. There was also no change in income tax. However, new announcements like exemption in tax filing, railway project and Ayurvedic AIIMS have been made. On the other hand, increasing the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) had a negative impact on the market and Sensex-Nifty crashed.
10 biggest announcements of Budget 2026
1- No change in income tax slab. You will get more time of three months to file revised return. This means that now instead of 31st December, you will be able to file revised returns by 31st March.
2- Announcement of 7 high speed rail corridors across the country. These include Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi and Varanasi-Siliguri corridors.
3- Import duty was removed on 17 cancer medicines. Medicines for 7 rare diseases were also made duty free.
4- Announcement of opening of three Ayurvedic AIIMS. To increase medical tourism, 5 medical hubs will also be built.
5- Announcement of spending Rs 12.2 lakh crore for the development of Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities with a population of more than five lakh.
6- Content Creator Labs will be created in 15 thousand secondary schools and 500 colleges.
7- Hostels for girls will be built in 800 districts. A hostel will be built in every district.
8- To promote India as a medical tourism hub, Buddhist circuits will be built in 5 northeastern states. These states include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura.
9- A dedicated freight corridor will be created to carry cargo. There is also a scheme to connect the port from Dankuni in the east to Surat in the west.
10- Exemption of motor accident claim amount from income tax. Apart from this, there will be no tax on importing material for making civilian aircraft parts.