On 1 February, Nirmala Sitharaman became the first Finance Minister of the country to present a record ninth consecutive Union Budget since she assumed charge as Finance Minister in July 2019.

Before this, Morarji Desai had presented six consecutive Budgets. Sitharaman now also holds the second position, along with P. Chidambaram, for having presented a total of nine Union Budgets and trails only Morarji Desai, who between 1959 and 1969 presented ten Union Budgets.

The Backdrop

Make no mistake, the Budget for 2026–27 has been presented amidst extraordinary global headwinds, including convulsions on the trade front, worsening geopolitical situations, and massive disruptions in the supply chain.

The Reactions

Ahead of the presentation of the Budget, when the 2026–27 Annual Budget was approved by the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Budget 2026–27 the budget for Viksit Bharat. “This budget brings the dreams of the present to life and strengthens the foundation of India’s bright future. This budget is a strong foundation for our high-flying aspirations of a developed India by 2047," he said.

After Sitharaman concluded her relatively shorter Budget (one hour twenty-five minutes, against her longest speech of two hours forty-two minutes in 2020–21), the following have been the two main reactions:

Focus Of This Piece

That being the case, how does the Budget fare? A comprehensive assessment of the Budget requires a complete analysis of the Budget documents, and I will present my nuanced sector-wise analysis in Part II (reforms and physical infrastructure) and Part III (social infrastructure and soft issues).

In this part, I put forward the ten key messages........

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