Budget 2026 Expectations Highlights: Parliament's Budget session begins; all eyes on FM Nirmala Sitharaman's speech on February 1

The halwa ceremony serves as a symbolic send-off for finance ministry officials and staff involved in drafting the Union government’s annual financial statement. Following the ritual, these officials enter a mandatory “lock-in” phase, during which they remain confined to the basement of North Block and are completely isolated from the outside world to ensure confidentiality of the final Budget. They are released only after the finance minister concludes the Budget speech in the Lok Sabha. The ceremony is also seen as a mark of gratitude for their efforts. For nearly four decades, from 1980 to 2020, the North Block basement housed the printing press that produced Budget documents.

With the transition to a largely paperless system, only a limited number of copies are now printed, while most dissemination takes place through digital platforms such as the official website and mobile app. This shift to digital delivery has also shortened the lock-in period to about five days, compared with the earlier duration that could extend to two weeks.

Budget 2026-27 will be Sitharaman’s ninth consecutive presentation and comes against the backdrop of GDP growth projected at 7.6 per cent for the current financial year amid ongoing global geopolitical challenges. Continuing recent practice, the Budget will be delivered in a paperless format. All related documents, including the Annual Financial Statement, Demand for Grants and the Finance Bill, will be made available through the Union Budget Mobile App for easy digital access by Members of Parliament and the public. The bilingual app, offered in English and Hindi on both Android and iOS platforms, will host the documents on completion of the Finance Minister’s Budget speech in Parliament on February 1, 2026.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday took part in the customary halwa ceremony, signalling the final phase of preparations for the Union Budget 2026-27, which is scheduled to be presented in the Lok Sabha on February 1. The ritual was held at North Block on Raisina Hill, the former headquarters of the finance ministry, as the newly occupied Kartavya Bhawan-I does not house a printing press.

Sitharaman and most of her team moved from the historic North Block to the modern central secretariat complex at Kartavya Bhawan in September 2025. The halwa ceremony, a long-standing tradition, involves preparing and serving the dessert to ministry officials and staff associated with the Budget exercise and marks the beginning of the mandatory “lock-in” period for those involved, according to an official statement. Upholding convention, the event was organised in the North Block basement and attended by the finance minister along with senior officials.

During the ceremony, Sitharaman also inspected the Budget Press, reviewed readiness for the presentation and conveyed her best wishes to the entire Budget team. She was accompanied by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, departmental secretaries and other senior officers engaged in the Budget process.

Opposition parties on Tuesday pressed for detailed debates during the Budget session on a range of concerns, including the proposed withdrawal of MGNREGA, SIR, India’s foreign policy posture and the broader economic situation, arguing that effective functioning of Parliament requires space for dissenting views. They also criticised the government for failing to share a provisional legislative agenda at the all-party meeting convened on the eve of the session and chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju sought to play down the criticism, saying the government’s business list is normally circulated after the President’s address and assuring members that it would be made available.

“India does not have a job creation problem — it has a job formalisation and productivity problem. In the next Budget, what industry needs most is not more hiring subsidies, but a simpler, predictable compliance framework that allows companies to hire faster and with confidence. When hiring becomes easy, especially for MSMEs and start-ups, employment follows automatically,” says Subramanyam S, CEO, AscentHR Technologies.

“The increase in slab rates for individuals in the last Budget, along with the recent reduction in GST rates, has enhanced disposable incomes and consequently driven consumption and spending. However, our pre Budget survey indicates that stakeholders continue to look forward to further reforms and tax incentives. A major expectation is the overhaul of the dispute resolution mechanism under direct tax laws, including the introduction of mandatory timelines for the disposal of appeals. Additionally, revisions to the Safe Harbour Rules under the Income tax framework and enhancements to the GST Invoice Management System are among the key items that stakeholders expect from Budget 2026.With the new Income tax Act set to come into effect from 1 April 2026, some of these expectations may need to be calibrated accordingly,” says Sunil Badala, Partner and National Head of Tax, KPMG in India.