Finance Minister

Budget stresses investment for growth, deficit target shows priorities: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the Union Budget for FY27 has focussed on investment as a priority tool for boosting consumption, and the trajectory of fiscal deficit shows that the government's priority is growth. Interacting with the media after the 2026-27 Budget presentation, Sitharaman also the volatility in gold prices is due to global uncertainty, and many central banks are investing in gold. "It also shows that investors do not have confidence in any one particular currency. and hence the rush to buy gold," Sitharaman said. Talking about hike in securities transaction tax (STT) on F&O trades, the minister said it is a "sort of deterrence so that people do not go headlong in speculative" derivative trading. The Budget has proposed an increase in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent. STT on options premium and exercise of options are proposed to be raised to 0.15 per cent from the present rate of 0.1 per cent and 0.125 per cent, ...

Budget 2026-27 Highlights: FM Sitharaman boosts manufacturing across sectors

Budget 2026-27 Highlights: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her ninth straight Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Sunday. Catch updates here

India's economy and its fundamentals strong: FM hits back at Rahul Gandhi

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that India's economic fundamentals are strong and the Budget addresses the needs of all sections of society. "With due respect, I don't know what course correction he (Gandhi) is referring to. Economy and its fundamentals are strong. Global uncertainty is facing many of our sectors for whom we have brought in so many different schemes for those small and medium enterprises, textiles, leather...for farmers and women entrepreneurs," she said. These are ways in which the government is reaching out to the common small people and making sure that they are receiving the benefit of various schemes, she said in customary post-Budget interaction with the media. She was reacting to the Leader of the Opposition's comment in a post on X, which said, "Youth without jobs. Falling manufacturing. Investors pulling out capital. Household savings plummeting. Farmers in distress. Looming global shocks - all

Budget FY27: FM may unveil measures to steady growth, boost manufacturing

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on February 1 present her ninth straight Budget, which is expected to unveil measures to sustain growth momentum, maintain fiscal discipline, and contain reforms that could buffer the economy from global trade frictions, including US tariffs. The presentation of the Budget for April 2026 to March 2027 fiscal (2026-27) will be on Sunday, a first in independent India's history. Sitharaman's sweeping income tax and GST cuts, together with spending on infrastructure and the RBI's interest rate reductions, have so far helped the Indian economy withstand the punitive 50 per cent tariff US President Donald Trump has imposed on Indian goods. But now, she has to come up with measures to sustain the momentum. The FY27 Budget comes against a complex backdrop. While domestic demand has held up and inflation has moderated from recent highs, global uncertainties - including geopolitical tensions, volatile commodity prices and uneven monetary easing by majo

FM to interact with 30 college students on Feb 1 post Budget presentation

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will interact with around 30 college students from different regions of the country after the presentation of the Union Budget 2026-27 on Sunday. Sitharaman is going to present her record ninth Budget including two interim budgets on February 1. As part of this initiative, the college students will also get to witness the live presentation of the Union Budget from the Lok Sabha Gallery, offering them a chance to view one of the most significant Parliamentary proceedings of the year, the finance ministry said in a statement. The students come from a variety of academic disciplines, including commerce, economics, medical education, and vocational courses from various States across India, it said. The students will also visit the Ministry of Finance housed at Kartavya Bhawan-1 and interact with various senior officials to gain an understanding of the functioning of the Ministry, policy formulation processes, and the role of institutions in ...

Budget 2026 may focus on managing debt-to-GDP ratio over fiscal deficit

The upcoming Budget is going to put emphasis on easing the debt-to-GDP ratio, which is around 56 per cent, instead of targetting a specific fiscal deficit number as the country has almost reached the end of the glide path envisaged in the FRBM legislation. A fiscal deficit of 3-4 per cent is considered comfortable and a desirable target for a growing, developing economy like India, aiming to balance economic expansion with financial stability. Under the revised Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, the fiscal deficit target was below 4.5 per cent of GDP for 2025-26. Therefore, the union government announced a new glide path with the debt-to-GDP ratio as the fiscal anchor. So, the roadmap for the next six years was announced in the FRBM statement released on February 1, 2025. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech in July 2024, had said, "The fiscal consolidation path announced by me in 2021 has served our economy very well, and we aim to reach

Budget 2026 to incorporate recommendations of 16th Finance Commission

The forthcoming Budget would incorporate the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission which has already submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu. The Finance Commission, which has been set up under the Constitution, provides a formula for devolution of taxes between Centre and states. Cesses and surcharge levied by Centre are not part of the divisible pool. The Finance Commission is a constitutional body that gives suggestions on Centre-state financial relations and is set up periodically. The 16th Finance Commission, headed by former Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya, was set up on December 31, 2023. Led by Panagariya, Finance Commission members - Retired bureaucrat Annie George Mathew, economist Manoj Panda, SBI Group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh and RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar - and Secretary to the Commission Ritvik Pandey submitted its report to Murmu on November 17, 2025. The Commission also presented a copy of the report to Prime

Budget 2026: Exporters seek fix for inverted duty structure, lower taxes

Ahead of Budget FY27, exporters seek correction of inverted duties, lower taxes for MSME manufacturers and targeted support for shipping and R&D

Union Budget 2026-27 to be presented on Sunday, Feb 1: Lok Sabha Speaker

The Budget session will start on January 28 and continue until April 2 in two phases. The first phase ends on February 13, with Parliament reconvening on March 9

Punjab urges Centre for special economic package and fiscal support

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Saturday urged the Centre to extend immediate fiscal assistance and announce a special economic package for Punjab, pointing out that the state endured a difficult 2025 marked by border tensions and the worst floods in decades. During a pre-Budget meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here, Cheema submitted a detailed memorandum laying out Punjab's key financial requirements and policy demands for the 2026-27 Union Budget. He said the state, being the country's first line of defence, suffered severe economic disruption due to prolonged security tensions along the international border, followed by a devastating monsoon disaster that was officially declared a calamity of severe nature by the home ministry. Explaining the scale of devastation, the Punjab finance minister said the floods impacted more than 2,300 villages and nearly 20,000 families across the state. Cheema informed Sitharaman that comprehensive ground-level

Securities laws set for reset as FM introduces Bill for unified code

The Code also attempts to decriminalise certain violations which are procedural or technical in nature into civil penalties

Sitharaman tables Securities Markets Code Bill: What it is, key features

According to the government, the existing laws are very old and do not fully match the current markets and technology

Bringing down debt-to-GDP ratio will be govt's core focus: Sitharaman

The finance minister stressed that fiscal management remains a priority and must be consistently upheld year after year

Will achieve 56.1% debt-to-GDP ratio in FY26: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

The finance minister also assured that there was no shortage of fertiliser in the country, whether imported or domestically produced, and there was enough buffer available for the upcoming rabi season

States should improve tax base, prevent revenue leakages: MoS finance

States have been provided financial assistance of Rs 4,24,227 crore since 2020-21 under the Scheme of Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure and Investment

Simplification of customs will be next big reform, says FM Sitharaman

Ahead of Budget 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the simplification of customs would be the next big reform agenda for the government. During the current financial year, the government undertook reforms such as rate rationalisation and simplification of the income tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a bid to boost consumption by providing more cash in the hands of the common man. "We need a complete overhaul of customs... we need to have customs simplified for people to feel that it is not cumbersome to comply... need to make it more transparent," Sitharaman said while speaking at the HT Leadership Summit here. There is a need to bring the virtues of income tax to the customs side in terms of transparency, she said, adding that the proposed reforms will be comprehensive and entail customs duty rate rationalisation. The announcements to this effect can be made in the upcoming Budget, likely to be presented on February 1. "We have brought down customs d

States to get share of new health-security cess through schemes: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the proposed Health and National Security Cess is expected to act as a deterrent to pan masala consumption and will not be levied on essential commodities

'Tobacco levy neither a new tax nor a cess': FM Nirmala Sitharaman

While the minister said the Centre had surrendered its power to levy excise duty on tobacco in 2017, excise duty did continue after GST - though at a nominal level

FM flags global tax risks from digitisation, new financial products

At Global Forum, India urges stronger transparency, confidentiality systems to tackle evolving financial structures

Digitalisation, financial products call for global tax info exchange: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said with the growing digitalisation of the economy and emergence of new financial products, countries globally will have to cooperate with timely exchange of information, while ensuring fairness and public trust in the tax system. Speaking at the 18th Global Forum Plenary meeting, Sitharaman said technological tools like artificial intelligence, along with judgement, should be used to ensure that tax information exchanged among jurisdictions leads to measurable outcomes. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is a multilateral framework comprising 170 jurisdictions. It monitors and peer reviews the implementation of international standards on transparency and information exchange. Stating that confidentiality and cybersecurity must be maintained with great care, the minister called for joint attention and cooperation to the new challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, emergence o