New Delhi: For the first time in India, that is Bharat's fiscal history, the Union Budget was presented on a Sunday.
Though weekend Budgets are not entirely new in India, a Sunday presentation has never happened before. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget for 2026-27 in the Lok Sabha at 11 am on Feb. 1.
Earlier, the Budget used to be presented on the last working day of February. In 1999, when Feb. 28 fell on a Sunday, then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government presented it a day earlier, on Feb. 27, a Saturday.
The 1999 Budget was also historic because until then, Union Budgets were presented in the evening at around 5 pm. It was a holdover from British colonial practice, when timing announcements to coincide with London's daytime was considered useful.
Sinha's presentation shifted the schedule to 11 am, a change that has since become the standard time for Budget announcements in India.
Since 2017, successive Governments have presented the Union Budget on Feb. 1, moving it forward from the earlier end-February schedule.
The reform was aimed at giving Parliament adequate time to debate, approve and operationalise Budget proposals before the start of the new financial year on April 1. Because of this reform, Feb. 1, 2026, regardless of being a Sunday, has been retained, making the Sunday Budget unavoidable.
