Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference after the presentation of the 'Union Budget 2026-27', in New Delhi on February 1. Photo PTI
Budget 2026-27 LIVE: Operation Sindoor: Major hike in defence spending
Allocation rises to 11 per cent of GDP as the government focuses on military modernisation
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (February 1) presented her ninth straight Budget and said the Income Tax Act, 2025 will be implemented from April 1 and rules and tax returns forms will be notified shortly.
Earlier on Sunday morning, Sitharaman called on President Droupadi Murmu before presenting Budget 2026-27 in the Lok Sabha.
As per established tradition, the finance minister met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before heading to Parliament.
Before going to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Sitharaman posed with her Budget team in front of her office at Kartavya Bhavan. Wearing a magenta silk saree, she was holding a tablet in a red pouch with the national emblem, along with the Minister of State and all six Secretaries in her ministry.
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Sitharaman, along with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, called on the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget.
Following the meeting, she headed for a Cabinet meeting that formally approved the Budget for 2026-27.
Sitharaman continued with the tradition she set in 2019, carrying the Budget speech in a 'bahi-khata', which she used after dropping the briefcase tradition.
Here is the top, trending news of Sunday, February 1, 2026, including Budget 2026-27, Indian politics, states' politics, geopolitics, federal issues, economics, development issues, sports, entertainment, and so on.
Read updates below.
Live Updates
- 1 Feb 2026 5:04 PM IST
Budget 2026 to support AVGC sector, allocates over Rs 4,500 crore
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (February 1) announced support to setting up content creator labs across 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges under the aegis of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, a flagship initiative of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
"India's Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is a growing industry, projected to require two million professionals by 2030," Sitharaman said in her budget speech.
"I propose to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai in setting up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges," the finance minister said.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been allocated Rs 4551.94 crore in the Union Budget, with a substantial amount marked for Prasar Bharati, India's public broadcaster, besides funds for talent development in animation, visual effects and gaming and supporting the community radio movement.
An allocation of Rs 250 crore has been made for talent development in animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) sector, under which the government promotes India and its youth as leaders in content creation. - 1 Feb 2026 5:00 PM IST
Shashi Tharoor: A "Budget of Invisible Kerala"
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday (February 1) said Budget 2026 is 'A "Budget of Invisible Kerala" in an election year is a message in itself.'
A disquieting sense of déjà vu pervades the FM’s speech today. For a state that contributes so robustly to the nation’s forex reserves, skilled workforce, and soft power, Kerala appears to be entirely invisible in the Centre’s fiscal vision. A "Budget of Invisible Kerala" in an…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 1, 2026 - 1 Feb 2026 4:56 PM IST
Union Budget sets unified 15.5% safe harbour margin for all sub-sets of IT services
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (February 1) proposed to club various inter-connected sub-segments of IT including software development services, IT-enabled services, knowledge process outsourcing services and others, under a single category with common safe harbour margin of just 15.5 per cent, a move aimed at boosting India's attractiveness to tech giants across Europe and the US.
The proposal, alongside other sweeteners, unveiled in the Union Budget - upping the threshold for IT services safe harbour to Rs 2,000 crore from Rs 300 crore, and dishing out tax holiday for cloud providers leveraging India's data centre services - seeks to woo global investments while ensuring tax certainty and alignment with international norms, positioning the country as a reliable destination for multinational operations.
India is a global leader in software development services, IT enabled services, knowledge process outsourcing services and contract R&D services relating to software development, Sitharaman said noting these business segments are quite inter-connected with each other.
"All these services are proposed to be clubbed under a single category of Information Technology Serviceswith a common safe harbour margin of 15.5 percent applicable to all. The threshold for availing safe harbour for IT services is being enhanced substantially from Rs 300 crore to Rs 2,000 crore," she said.
Safe harbour for IT services shall be approved by an automated rule-driven process without any need for tax officer to examine and accept the application. "Once applied by an IT Services company, the same safe harbour can be continued for a period of five years at a stretch at its choice," she said.
- 1 Feb 2026 4:44 PM IST
Centre’s push for private mining ‘extremely dangerous’, say Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday (February 1) described the Union Budget as an “extremely dangerous” policy document that opens the door for private corporates to exploit the state’s mineral wealth, while simultaneously laying bare the Centre’s continued neglect and discrimination against Kerala.
In a sharp reaction, Vijayan said the budget facilitates private mining by diluting environmental safeguards and fast-tracking clearances, a move that threatens Kerala’s fragile ecology and long-term public interest. He noted that the state government had announced plans in its own budget to establish a public-sector mineral corridor linking Vizhinjam, Chavara and Kochi, but the Centre’s policy runs directly counter to this by handing over mineral resources to private players.
Such a move, he warned, is highly dangerous and undermines the state’s development vision.
The Chief Minister said the Union Budget also reflects a conscious disregard for Kerala, remarking that it appears as though the Union Finance Minister has forgotten that Kerala exists on India’s map. Long-standing demands of the state — including an AIIMS, seven high-speed railway corridors, and a special package for the Vizhinjam port project — have once again been completely ignored.
Vijayan strongly criticised the Centre’s decision to retain the states’ share in central taxes at 41 per cent, rejecting Kerala’s demand for an increase. He said this weakens the spirit of cooperative federalism and added that Union Ministers from Kerala must answer for the continued sidelining of the state.
Terming the budget a product of rigid neoliberal economic thinking, the Chief Minister said it prioritises corporate interests while pushing ordinary people into deeper economic distress. He accused the Centre of denying Kerala its rightful share from the divisible pool of central taxes and of attempting to destabilise the state’s finances by discontinuing revenue deficit grants. Overall grants, he pointed out, have been sharply reduced from ₹2.2 lakh crore in 2021 to ₹1.4 lakh crore at present.
While Kerala has received a marginal increase in its tax share, Vijayan said this merely reflects the state’s achievements in population control and domestic revenue growth and cannot be portrayed as a favour. He stressed that the denial of grants means there is no real increase in Kerala’s total share from the Centre.
The Chief Minister also warned that cuts in food, health and fertiliser subsidies, at a time of persistent inflation, would severely affect people’s livelihoods. He highlighted massive reductions in allocations for the employment guarantee scheme, saying this would deal a serious blow to rural employment.
He further accused the Centre of failing to ensure fair prices for agricultural produce or regulate imports that harm Kerala’s economy. Central public sector undertakings such as FACT and Cochin Refinery, along with key sectors including tourism, education and industry, have been ignored in the budget, he said.
Referring to global economic uncertainties triggered by sharp tariff hikes imposed by the US administration under President Donald Trump, Vijayan said the budget offers no roadmap to protect India’s export sector or address emerging challenges. He added that the budget does nothing to tackle unemployment, overlooks traditional industries as well as IT and startup ecosystems, and provides no schemes for expatriate welfare or rehabilitation.
Calling the budget and its economic approach anti-people, Vijayan said there must be strong resistance to both the Centre’s policies and its continued neglect of Kerala.
- 1 Feb 2026 3:59 PM IST
Nirmala Sitharaman skips poetry, keeps focus on investments, growth
Nirmala Sitharaman's 85-minute speech, described as "historic and futuristic" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, began with the invocation of Guru Ravidas and the "sacred occasion of Magh Purnima", but maintained a business-like approach throughout.
The Budget speech was devoid of any poetic flourishes or references to cultural icons such as Thiruvalluvar or Basavanna and focused entirely on investments, growth and the odd but not so explicit mention of election-bound states.
- 1 Feb 2026 3:54 PM IST
DMK: Sitharaman has given nothing to TN even in election year
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has once again given 'zero' to Tamil Nadu in the Union Budget, ruling DMK alleged on Sunday (February 1) and dubbed the annual financial statement as "directionless".
Reacting to the Union Budget, DMK Spokesperson Constantine Ravindran said that the expectations of Tamil Nadu which will go to polls is one thing, but when we see the Budget as a whole, there is nothing for any sector including the MSMEs. "It does not have an aim or goal and in short, it is directionless." While the Budget has caused overall concern among the people of the country, it has clearly showed that even if election is scheduled in Tamil Nadu, the Union government will not pay even a little bit of attention to the southern state, he alleged.
"Even the high speed rail link is not for operations within Tamil Nadu; one proposed connection is towards Bengaluru and another link terminates in Chennai; hence, Nirmala Sitharaman has again given zero as a gift to Tamil Nadu," he told PTI.
Even experts are not in a position to declare the objectives of the Budget and stock markets have crashed, he said.
- 1 Feb 2026 3:36 PM IST
Big push for BJP-ruled Odisha
The Union Budget 2026-27 has placed the state of Odisha firmly at the heart of India’s growth story, it appears.
The ruling BJP underscored this when Odisha BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal said, “ The Budget reflects a clear and confident vision to transform Odisha into a strategic engine of eastern India’s development.”
Biswal said the announcement of 20 new inland waterways, beginning with Odisha, will unlock immense potential for inland transport, trade, and the coastal economy, giving a decisive push to logistics efficiency and regional commerce.
- 1 Feb 2026 3:31 PM IST
'Seems to have missed the ball': Shashi Tharoor's cricketing analogy to slam Budget
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday (February 1) used a cricketing analogy to express his disappointment with the Union Budget, saying Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman "seems to have missed the ball".
In an interview with PTI, Tharoor said Sitharaman's Budget speech seemed to have "lots of subheadings but very few specifics", and was "completely short" of an overall vision.
As a Kerala MP, Tharoor said, he had nothing to be happy about in this Budget.
Tharoor asserted that the biggest unanswered question remains jobs, noting that there was little in the Budget speech to indicate how employment would be generated.
Asked whether the finance minister has "hit it out of the park" or "missed the ball completely and been stumped", Tharoor said, "I don't know if she's been stumped yet, but she certainly seems to have missed the ball. In one or two places, she may have got edges, but I'm not quite sure that we've got anything off the meat of the bat so far." Noting that it was a fairly short Budget speech, Tharoor said it seemed to have lots of subheadings but very few specifics. - 1 Feb 2026 3:18 PM IST
Why markets bled on Budget Sunday
The day began with President Droupadi Murmu offering dahi cheeni (curd and sugar) to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman — a traditional good-luck ritual ahead of the Union Budget. But while the sweet start may have worked wonders for some sectors, the markets found the taste rather sour.
Making history, this year’s Budget was presented on a Sunday — the first such instance in recent memory. Since the Budget session was on, trading too was allowed for the full day.
- 1 Feb 2026 3:15 PM IST
No benefit for Karnataka from Budget 2026: DK Shivakumar
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday (February 1) said that there was no benefit for the state from the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament.
He, however, said that he is yet to go through the budget in detail.
"There is no benefit for our state from the central budget. I was observing it. They have named a programme after Mahatma Gandhi now (after repealing the MGNREGA act that was named after Gandhi) ," Shivakumar said.
Stating that there were expectations for Bengaluru from the central budget, Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in-charge of the city's development, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called it a "global city", "but what has the central government done for it." He further pointed out at the troubles that sugar factories, especially those from the cooperative sector, face, due to alleged lack of decisions or measures by the central government to help them.
