- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026 in Lok Sabha in an 85-minute speech
- The Budget focuses on economic growth, capacity building, and equitable resource access across sectors
- Key initiatives include Biopharma SHAKTI with Rs 10,000 crore and India Semiconductor Mission 2.0
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026 in the Lok Sabha on Sunday, delivering an 85-minute-long speech from 11 am to 12:25 pm. The annual finance bill was formally tabled in Parliament immediately after her address.
In her presentation, Sitharaman outlined three main priorities: accelerating economic growth, building people's capacities, and ensuring equitable access to resources and opportunities. She detailed proposals spanning taxation, social welfare, infrastructure, and emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence.
While most of the speeches have ranged between 90 and 120 minutes, her longest was in 2020, lasting 2 hours and 42 minutes. The 2025 Budget speech ran for 1 hour 14 minutes, and in 2019, she spoke for 2 hours 17 minutes. Her shortest Budget speech was in 2024, lasting exactly one hour.
Budget 2026
Some of the major announcements were:
- Biopharma SHAKTI: Rs 10,000 crore over five years to make India a global hub for biologics and biosimilars.
- India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0: Strengthening domestic semiconductor manufacturing and supply chains.
- Customs Duty Exemptions: Extended for capital goods used in manufacturing lithium-ion battery cells.
- Tax Holiday for Global Cloud Services: Proposed exemption till 2047 for foreign companies operating via Indian data centres.
- Public Capital Expenditure: Increased to Rs 12.2 lakh crore to boost infrastructure and growth.
- Regional Medical Hubs: Support for five hubs to create employment for healthcare professionals.
- University Townships & STEM Hostels: Establish five townships near industrial and logistics corridors and one girls' hostel in every district for STEM institutions.
- High-Speed Rail Corridors: Development of seven corridors as “growth connectors.”
- Extended deadline for revising tax returns from December 31 to March 31 (with a nominal fee). Individuals (ITR 1 & 2) by July 31; non-audit businesses/trusts by August 31.
- TDS on immovable property sales by non-residents to be deducted via the resident buyer's PAN-based challan instead of TAN.
