Union Budget 2026: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2026-27 on Sunday, February 1st. Parliament rarely meets on Sundays, making this decision unusual at first glance. However, this isn't the first time in India's history that the Union Budget has been presented on a Sunday. In fact, it happened more than two decades ago. Let's find out when.

What's different this time? 

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, approved the parliamentary calendar, paving the way for the budget to be presented on a Sunday. Since the Union Budget was shifted from February 28 to February 1 in 2017, it has sometimes fallen on a weekend or, more often, on a Saturday. However, presenting the budget on a Sunday is increasingly rare. 

When has this happened before? 

The last time India presented its budget on a Sunday was on February 28, 1999. At that time, the then Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, presented the budget for 1999-2000 under the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

This budget was special not only because it was presented on a Sunday, but also because it changed the timing of the budget presentation. Until then, the Union Budget had traditionally been presented at 5:00 pm, a colonial-era practice based on the British time zone. Yashwant Sinha broke this tradition by presenting the budget at 11:00 am, a change that continues to this day.

What was special about that budget? 

The 1999 budget marked a major milestone in India's reform journey. A 10% surcharge was imposed on personal income tax and corporate tax, customs duties were rationalized, and the maximum customs duty rate was reduced from 45% to 40%. The government also abolished the 5% special customs duty, a major step towards trade liberalization and simplification of the tax structure. Rural India also received a boost as the allocation for the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund was increased to ₹3,500 crore.