“Historic Budget”: Kiren Rijiju as Cabinet Meets Ahead of Union Budget 2026

As the final curtain rose on Budget Day, the government set the tone early.

Calling it a “historic Budget”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Reform Express” would accelerate India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat, as the Union Cabinet convened in Parliament to clear the Union Budget 2026–27.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Parliament ahead of the Cabinet meeting, underscoring the political weight of the day. Rijiju’s remarks echoed the government’s broader narrative of reform-driven growth, while Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan described the Budget as one aimed at building a “Viksit aur Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

The Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, met shortly before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepared to present the Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am—her ninth consecutive Union Budget, a milestone that places her ahead of Pranab Mukherjee and level with P Chidambaram. Only Morarji Desai, with ten Budgets, remains ahead.

Earlier in the morning, tradition met policy at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where President Droupadi Murmu offered dahi-cheeni to Sitharaman—an auspicious ritual marking the start of an important task. The Finance Minister arrived carrying her trademark bahi-khata, now a tablet wrapped in a red cloth embossed with the national emblem, accompanied by senior officials including Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran.

Sitharaman is expected to lay out the government’s estimated receipts and expenditure for FY 2026–27, table mandatory statements under the FRBM Act, and seek leave to introduce the Finance Bill, 2026, which gives legal backing to the Budget’s proposals.

The presentation follows the tabling of the Economic Survey 2025–26 earlier this week, the government’s annual report card on the economy that sets the context for fiscal decisions.

With Parliament, markets and ministries watching closely, the messaging from the government is clear: this Budget is being framed not as routine arithmetic, but as a marker in India’s longer reform journey.

(With inputs from ANI)