Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Image Credit source: ANI
The country’s next Union Budget 2026-27 will be presented on 1 February. Earlier today, on 27 January 2026, the traditional Halwa Ceremony held every year was organized in the Finance Ministry. With this ceremony, the budget making process has officially reached its final stage.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself followed this tradition by making halwa in a pan at the Budget Press located in North Block. On this occasion, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and many senior officials of the ministry were also present. This time the budget making team has been shifted to the old basement of North Block, because the new office of the ministry ‘Kartavya Bhawan’ does not have the facility of printing press.
What is Halwa Ceremony?
Halwa ceremony is an important part of the budget process. After this, all the officers related to the budget get locked-in. That means, until the budget is presented in the Parliament, these officers remain completely cut off from the outside world. This is done so that no information related to the budget is leaked. During the ceremony, the Finance Minister visited the budget press, saw the preparations and congratulated the entire budget team.
Complete budget will be available on mobile
This time also the government is going to keep the budget digital and paperless. According to the Finance Ministry, all the important documents related to the budget will be available on the Union Budget mobile app. The complete budget, grant related documents and finance bill will be available on this app. As soon as the budget speech in Parliament ends on 1 February 2026, all the documents will be visible on the mobile app and website.
Budget will be presented on 1 February
Now the eyes of the entire country are fixed on 1 February 2026. On this day, the Finance Minister will present the budget in the Parliament and it will be clear what big announcements the government is going to make for the common people, farmers, youth and industries in the coming year.