The Hindu

Deficit reduction in FY27 is driven largely by cuts in development expenditure, particularly in the rural and agricultural sectors

The arena of welfare spending has now shifted to the States, while the Centre continues to drive the agenda by legislating and setting norms

In the context of Indias rapidly evolving security requirements, its defence budget is middling. Our security outlays must be assessed in the context of the resources committed by nations that pose a threat to India, rather than in isolation

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Budget had nothing to offer to people of the State. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership said that the infrastructure push through rail and freight corridors will push economy of the State.

The government should have gone back to the drawing board if its existing strategies were not working

Budget 2026-27 needs to be read in the context of much geopolitical turmoil

The Budget has a slew of long- and short-term measures with a view to maintain continuity over short-term policy stimuli

Budget will provide opportunities to the youth, security to farmers, encouragement to entrepreneurs, relief to the middle class, respect to workers, and new impetus for innovation, says Adityanath

The Union Budget 2026-27 chose prudence over adventurism, and multipronged measures over Big Bang reforms

In todays speech, the Finance Minister spoke about the governments aim to develop inland and coastal shipping so that its share in total cargo carried through road, rail and water increases from 6% to 12%

A significant highlight of the Budget is its focus on bridging education with employment and enterprise

The Social Justice Departments allocation for 2026-27 is 13,687.59 crore and the Tribal Affairs Ministry has been allocated 15,421.97 crore; the allocations have increased by 16.69% and 42.47% respectively compared with their respective Revised Estimates for the current fiscal

Trade unions said the Budget reduced capital investment to corporate investment

Allocation for the scheme was 350 crore with farmers organisations like All India Kisan Sabha stating that the new initiative was just another rhetoric

Government to provide tax holiday for foreign companies offering cloud services using Indian data centres

Infrastructure proposals in the Union Budget, including freight and industrial corridors and tourism projects, have triggered a political clash in West Bengal ahead of Assembly elections, with the BJP pitching development and the TMC calling the announcements political signalling.

No hike for Kisan Samman Nidhi; agri research and education budget drops 4.8%; Food and PDS gets 10% hike; new multilingual AI tool, high-value cash crops get extra support; government did not fulfil promises to farmers, says BKS

The intention behind raising STT is likely to reduce speculative trading, especially short-term, high-frequency trades in derivatives like options

Credit-linked subsidies, start-upsupportand veterinary expansion announced

Indian banking sector today is characterised by strong balance sheets, historic highs in profitability, improved asset quality and coverage exceeding 98% of villages in the country, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a fresh allocation of 10,000 crore to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) growth fund in the Budget speech on Sunday (February 1, 2026), in a bid to give fresh incentives to lakhs of small businesses and enterprises in the country.

While exempting 17 cancer medicines from basic customs duty was welcome, there is little evidence to suggest that companies passed on the benefit to the customers in earlier instances

Budget 2026 sets the Centres capital expenditure target at 12.2 lakh crore, proposes dedicated rare earth corridors, construction of new national waterways and measures to improve industrial productivity; poll-bound States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu find mention

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that a National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid to digitally document all places of cultural, spiritual and historic significance would be set up

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamans direct tax announcements during the Budget 2026 speech marked a major overhaul in Indias tax system. At the heart of the reforms is the new Income Tax Act of 2025, which will replace the decades-old law, from April 2026, with simpler rules and redesigned forms to make compliance easier for ordinary taxpayers.

The modest increase of 2,000 crore in Central allocations falls far short of addressing the regions long-standing developmental gap or providing the stimulus required for revival of existing industrial units, says FCIK

A collection of articles by eminent personalities decoding the Budget.

Although the allocation last year was significant, the Jal Shakti Ministry, according to the Union Budget documents, expects to spend only about 17,000 crore when this financial year ends

Amid global uncertainty, the emphasis on scaling up strategic and frontier sectors, alongside labour-intensive industries, reflects an attempt to advance economic growth, strategic security and self-reliance, while expanding employment.

Rahul Gandhi said the Union Budget for 2026-27 is blind to Indias real crises, and highlighted how the youth are without jobs, manufacturing is falling and farmers are in distress

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman has again laidout customs duties and import tariffs changes for the upcoming fiscal year.

Manufacturing remains central to Indias growth strategy given its role in large-scale employment generation, export competitiveness, supply chain resilience and Atmanirbharta

National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled flags share of allocation for disability department; reduction in allocation for implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016

Building on the success of Lakpati Didi programme, government plans to help women move from credit-linked livelihoods to becoming enterprise owners

It is laudable that the Budget has given a boost to Indias defence funding, but the design and efficacy of follow-up reforms will be critical for cost-effective and precise delivery

The VB-G RAM G scheme receives an allocation of 95,692 crores, with four other schemes and areas receiving higher allocations

Budget signals shift to high-value, tech-intensive, low-carbon manufacturing and exports; for labour-intensive sectors, there is a focus on the entire value chain, along with access to capital for MSMEs

Left parties and Trinamool accuse Centre of ignoring livelihoods, federalism and economic distress in a Budget they say favours corporates over citizens

Welcoming rail corridor, rare earth corridor and other proposals beneficial to Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu says the Budget aligns with States priorities and expedites Indias journey towards becoming a developed economy by 2047

The budget for Prime Minister-Viraasat Ka Samvardhan, an initiative for socio-economic empowerment of minority communities through education, women entrepreneurship and leadership training, sees a cost cutting

Overall, the Budget balances near-term macro stability with long-term strategic direction. Growth and job creation remain central, but without compromising fiscal discipline

Experts warn it falls far short of the allocation needed to guarantee 125 workdays for all eligible workers;

Programmes under the umbrella term e-mobility include three major schemes with an aim to make road transport more sustainable

Overall health spending saw only modest growth with the Health Ministry being allocated 1.05 lakh crore for FY 2026-27, just over six percent higher than the previous year and roughly nine percent more than the revised estimates