Budget 2026 LIVE Updates: India's capex outlay hiked for FY27, Nirmala Sitharaman gives big update on India Semiconductor Mission 2.0

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government has proposed to launch India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and increased the budgetary allocation to ₹40,000 crore. 

We'll continue to develop infra in tier-2, tier-3 cities: Nirmala Sitharaman in her ninth Budget speech

FM proposes setting up of 3 dedicated chemical parks to enhance domestic production, reduce import dependency.

Mineral-rich states of Odisha, Kerala, Andhra, and Tamil Nadu to establish rare earth corridors: Nirmala Sitharaman

Sitharaman said that the government has proposed to allocate ₹10,000 crore for the biopharma sector. She added that the government has undertaken comprehensive reforms for accelerating growth and boosting productivity. 

“More than 350 reforms have been rolled out recently. The reform express is well on its way.”

Sitharaman said that the Budget is based on three kartavyas (responsibilities). The first is to accelerate and sustain economic growth by enhancing competitiveness; second is to fulfill aspirations of our people; and the third is to ensure that every family, community, and region has access to resources and opportunities. 

"Threefold approach requires supportive ecosystem. It is a unique, yuva shakti-driven budget."

India will continue to take steps towards Viksit Bharat: FM Sitharaman.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has tabled the Union Budget 2026-27. Ahead of the Budget, shares of major metal companies came under heavy selling pressure/ Stocks such as Vedanta, Hindustan Copper, Hindustan Zinc, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Tata Steel, and JSW Steel reported sharp declines. 

The Cabinet has approved the Union Budget 2026-27. Nirmala Sitharaman will soon present her ninth record Budget in the Lok Sabha that comes amidst global uncertainties and slowdown in exports. 

"I hope a central fund pool is established in #UnionBudget2026 for local bodies to build dog shelters, hire/train staff, and deploy tech to vaccinate and neuter all street dogs. No more unvaccinated, unneutered strays roaming free—it's a huge public health and safety issue," the Sivaganga MP wrote on X ahead of Sitharaman's speech. 

Nirmala Sitharaman was seen donning a pink kancheevaram silk saree for her record ninth Budget speech. The saree originates from Tamil Nadu, where assembly polls are slated to take place in a few months. 

Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India, said, “The Union Budget for 2025-26 is expected to prioritize increasing investments in defense, manufacturing, infrastructure, and sustainable energy initiatives along with supporting the agricultural sector, ensuring a stable and dispute-free tax environment, and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. With programs like ‘Mission Mausam’ in place, we expect more focus on promoting the use of innovative technologies for building a climate-resilient country. The Budget is expected to drive innovation through focused investments in Deep Tech and the geospatial ecosystem. India’s DeepTech ecosystem shows immense growth potential and with advancements in AI, IoT, robotics, and drone technologies, it ought to play a pivotal role in shaping India’s position as a global innovation leader.  India’s geospatial sector is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% to reach Rs 25,000 crore by 2025. The Union Budget must focus on simulating this growth through innovative government policies and allocation of funds for R&D in tech.”

Gross GST collections rise 6.2 per cent in January to over ₹1.93 lakh crore. Of these, central GST collections stand at ₹38,800 crore, whereas state GST collections are ₹47,800 crore as of January 31. The Integrated GST collections stand at ₹1.07 lakh crore as of January 31. 

Mahendra Nahata, Managing Director, HFCL, said, “India stands at a decisive inflection point in its technological trajectory. Through resolute policy and demonstrated execution, evidenced by the national-scale success of BharatNet and the indigenous 5G rollout, we have laid the foundational pillars for architectural sovereignty. The strategic imperative now is to convert this infrastructure advantage into enduring technological leadership. The forthcoming Budget can catalyse this transition by introducing a targeted Innovation-Linked Incentive (ILI) mechanism. This program needs to be precisely engineered to reward R&D expenditure and patent generation in 6G, Artificial Intelligence, and Defence Technologies, the core triad of future strategic power. Our objective is unequivocally to position Indian Intellectual Property at the heart of our national interest. India’s vast, complex, and demanding domestic network presents an unparalleled, real-world testbed for global-scale innovation. We now must leverage our innovation to ensure that solutions proven and perfected here evolve into the de facto standards for the world. This is more than an industrial policy; it is a strategic investment in technical sovereignty and influence. By incentivising the Indian intellect, we empower Indian infrastructure to command the future. We will transition from a nation of adopters to the originator of trusted, strategic technology for the world.”

Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fluctuated in a narrow range in early trade on Sunday ahead of the Budget 2026-27 presentation.

Gold and silver crashed on MCX on Sunday in the special trading session ahead of the Union Budget 2026. Both the metals were locked in the lower circuit of 6 per cent. 

Silver went down as much as 37 per cent on Sunday, dropping from its all-time high to around ₹4,20,000 on MCX within less than 48 hours. Gold futures also dropped by around 9 per cent to ₹1.37 lakh per 10 grams. Gold prices have also tumbled from ₹45,000-50,000 from its peak. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reached the President house before presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha.

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, said that he is hopeful about the Budget ahead of the upcoming state election. He added that he is looking forward to Sitharaman's speech to see what she has to offer in terms of job creation. 

"We are all looking forward to hearing what the Finance Minister has to tell us. The Economic Survey projects good economic growth...Whether that growth is going to be accompanied by jobs? Jobless growth doesn't help anyone. So, we are anxious to see what kind of schemes they have in mind to generate more jobs in this country for young people of India. Apart from that, there will be many things. We in Kerala, with an election coming up, are looking to see what benefits the Central Govt might give us," Tharoor told news agency ANI.

Muthuselvaraj, Technical Research Analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan, believes the budget will have a significant impact on sectors such as defence, capital goods, and infrastructure.

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