Budget 2026: Nirmala Sitharaman calls on President Droupadi Murmu (Image: X/@ANI)Union Budget 2026 | Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reached the President's House and called on President Droupadi Murmu before presenting her ninth consecutive Union Budget. She was seen donning a pink saree and carrying a tablet (bahi khata) encased in a red case.
Ahead of Sitharaman's speech, Sensex and Nifty slipped in early trade during the Sunday session as investors turned cautious. Sensex slipped 86.55 points or 0.11 per cent to 82.183.23 after falling around 130 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty was down 54.40 points or 0.21 per cent to 25, 266.25 after touching a low of 25,252.30 for a brief amount of time.
Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhari arrived at the Kartavya Bhawan on Sunday before presenting the Union Budget 2026-27 in the Lok Sabha. She is all set to present the Union Budget today; all eyes will be on the government's economic roadmap for the year ahead, tax changes and sector-wise impact.
On February 1, Sitharaman will present her ninth consecutive Budget as the Finance Minister at 11 am. She will present a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India for the year 2026-27.
Nirmala Sitharaman will also table two statements under Section 3(1) of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003. These include the Medium-term Fiscal Policy-cum-Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement and the Macro-Economic Framework Statement.
Some stocks to watch ahead of the Budget speech include Bharat Electronics (BEL), Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Cochin Shipyard, Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders, IRCON, Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), Ultratech Cement, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Aurobindo Pharma, and Laurus Labs.
Key focus areas in this Budget are expected to include personal income tax concessions, headline tax cuts, higher allocations for infrastructure and manufacturing, support for AI and mobile industry, and continued emphasis on social welfare schemes.
The defence sector also has quite the checklist for Sitharaman -- a 7-12 per cent increase in budget as well as investments on artificial intelligence for command, control and analytics, drone warfare, and counter-drone systems, enhanced cyber and electronic warfare capabilities.
Senior citizens and retirees are seeking stronger financial security, clearer care frameworks, expansion of insurance coverage to include long-term care through care homes and at-home services, strengthening reverse mortgage norms to allow up to 80 per cent of property value, and granting infrastructure status to the senior care sector to improve access to affordable, long-term financing, after Kerala became the first state to present a dedicated 'Elderly Budget'.
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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.
Stock Picks: Larsen & Toubro | Buy | Target Price: 4,100 | Stop Loss: Rs 3,800
Ircon International | Buy | Target Price: 180 | Stop Loss: Rs 150
Bharat Electronics | Buy | Target Price: 490 | Stop Loss: Rs 410
NPTC | Buy | Target Price: 390 | Stop Loss: Rs 340
Equity investors will closely track Nirmala Sitharaman's speech for any rebate on capital gains taxation. At present, the capital gains regime is governed by changes introduced last year aimed at simplifying tax rates across asset classes while significantly reducing the role of indexation.
Budget 2026-27: Capital gains tax rates (from July 2024)
Experts believe that the automobile sector is likely to gain from policy support for electric vehicle manufacturing and tax rationalisation. “The expected Budget 2026 PLI can ease localisation norms, accelerating the scale-up of EVs for a global edge,” Riyank Arora, AVP (Derivatives & HNI) at Octanom Technologies, said.
Here are the auto stocks that investors need to eye before Sitharaman's speech
Maruti Suzuki: Arora placed the recovery targets placed around ₹15,300-15,700.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M): He said that investors should buy this stock near ₹3,327 for a potential upside towards ₹3,550-3,700 and placed a target price of ₹4,450 on the stock.
Bajaj Auto has a target price of ₹9,975, whereas TVS Motor and Lumax Auto have been pegged at ₹3,920 and ₹1,480, respectively.
For healthcare, Utsav Verma, Head of Research at Choice Institutional Equities, recommended Aurobindo Pharma and Laurus Labs with upside targets of ₹1,220-1,280 and ₹1,080-1,100, respectively. For Artemis Medicare Services, he pegged the target price at ₹325. “Scaling Up 2x bed expansion to propel the next leg of growth, while sustaining industry-leading ARPOB and international patient share,” Verma said.
Union Budget 2026 | Ahead of the Budget, here's a list of the infrastructure, construction, and IT services stocks that investors need to watch
Ultratech Cement: Utsav Verma, Head of Research at Choice Institutional Equities, set a target price of ₹15,210 on the stock. "We expect UltraTech to be a key beneficiary of Union Budget 2026, supported by continued government focus on infrastructure capex, affordable housing and urban development," he said.
Hindware Home Innovation: He said that the company is likely to benefit from government spending on housing, water supply, sanitation and urban infrastructure. Verma gave a target price of ₹430.
TCS: Verma suggested a target price of ₹3,950 for the IT stock. "Any policy allocation or announcement aimed at strengthening India’s data-centre ecosystem should be positive for TCS," he noted.
Union Budget 2026 | Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Budget for FY2026-27 on Sunday at 11 am. Ahead of her speech, here are some stocks to watch in the defence and railways sectors.
Defence: Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) as analysts believe that the defence sector is emerging as one of the strongest candidates to benefit from the Budget, with Riyank Arora, AVP (Derivatives & HNI) at Octanom Technologies, expecting a 15 per cent rise in defence capex.
Arora recommended buying HAL on dips near ₹4,589 with an upside potential towards ₹4,900-5,100 in the near to medium term. For BEL, he said that pullbacks towards the level of ₹441 offer a favourable entry, with targets pegged at around ₹470-490.
Sachin Gupta, Vice President - Research at Choice Broking said that defence companies like Cochin Shipyard, Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders, and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) are also likely to benefit from India-EU free trade agreement and Budget 2026.
Railways: Vinay Rajani, Senior Technical and Derivative Analyst at HDFC Securities, recommended IRCON and Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL). “Railway stocks exhibit strong relative strength on charts, signalling potential optimism ahead,” he said.
Union Budget 2026 | Ahead of the much-awaited Budget speech by Nirmala Sitharaman, the salaried employees and middle-class households are asking whether the government is steadily moving away from the old tax regime, which was driven by deductions, to a simpler, low-friction system under the new tax regime?
The new tax regime was introduced as an alternate to the old tax regime in Budget 2020 to simplify tax compliance by offering lower rates in lieu of giving up most tax benefits.
Income Tax Slab rates under the old and new tax regimes at a glance
Under the new tax regime, income up to ₹4 lakh is exempt from tax whereas under the old tax regime, income up to ₹2.5 lakh is tax-free.
Union Budget 2026 | Ahead of the Budget speech slated to take place at 11 am today, the first question that everyone has is: how do direct and indirect taxes impact my pocket?
Direct taxes are imposed directly on your income or wealth. The taxes that fall under this category are income tax, wealth taxes, property tax, and corporate tax.
Indirect taxes are levied on goods and services that you purchase and not on your income. These include GST, customs duty, excise duty, and service tax.
Also Read: Budget 2026: Understanding direct and indirect taxes, how do they impact you
Union Budget 2026 | A look at key expectations from Sitharaman's speech based on the Economic Survey 2025-26
Union Budget 2026 | As Sitharaman is set to present the Budget in the Parliament at 11 am today, the Economic Survey 2025-26 presented a cautiously optimistic view of India's economic growth prospects. The Survey projected that India's GDP growth is expected to remain anywhere between 6.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent in 2026-27.
Also Read: Economic Survey 2025-26: FY27 growth pegged at 6.8–7.2%, outlook positive
Union Budget 2026 | As Nirmala Sitharaman is set to table her ninth straight Union Budget on Sunday, here's what it is and what it funds.
As per Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Budget is not just an annual document; it is the government's "annual financial announcement". It contains the government's estimated receipts and expenditures for the financial year from April 1 to March 31. It determines resource allocation across sectors, policy and financial support for industries, where public investment is directed, and funding of welfare and development schemes.
Also read: Budget 2026: What is Union Budget? What it funds, how it’s made, and why it matters
