The suspense over whether the government would present the Union Budget 2026 on a Sunday will end soon. The cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs is likely to meet tomorrow; among the agenda is a decision on when to present the Union Budget this year.
For the last few years, the trend has been to present the Union Budget at 11 am on February 1. This year, February 1 falls on a Sunday. It is also Guru Ravidas Jayanti, which is a restricted holiday. Government offices and the stock markets are closed on Sunday.
There is a strong possibility, however, that the government would present the Union Budget on Sunday as it may not want to break from tradition, government sources told NDTV.
The cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, which is meeting tomorrow, will take a final call on it.
The Budget session of parliament is likely to start on January 28 with the President’s address, sources said. The Economic Survey would then be presented the next day. January 30 and 31 would be holidays, and finally, the Union Budget would be presented on February 1, Sunday, they said.
The first part of the Budget session is expected to last for three weeks. It will have a discussion on the motion of thanks on President Droupadi Murmu’s address, to which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will respond. A discussion on the Union Budget and a presentation on the Finance Bill will follow.
The second part will last for four weeks, during which some important government bills and demands for grants will be discussed.
Since 2017…
The Union Budget has been presented on February 1 since 2017. This switch was made by former finance minister Arun Jaitley.
In 2025, February 1 fell on a Saturday and the government presented an interim Budget that day. The Union Budget had been presented on a Saturday before too.
This year’s the first time since 2017, however, when February 1 falls on a Sunday. The last time the government presented the Union Budget on a Sunday was on February 28, 1999. The then finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who read out the Budget, started the trend of beginning the speech at 11 am instead of 5 pm.