As Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares to present her record eighth consecutive Budget, a cut or tweak in income tax rates/slabs to ease the burden of the middle class struggling with high prices and stagnant wage growth is widely expected.

The Budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 is expected to contain measures to shore up weakening economic growth while being fiscally prudent. It is likely to focus on steps to boost consumption while sticking to the roadmap of narrowing the fiscal deficit.

The government’s first full-year budget in the third term will be presented against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainties and an economic growth rate slowing to a year low, with new US President Donald Trump threatening tariffs against countries like India.

Analysts and experts expect some tax rationalisation, export push, better implementation of capital spending plans and a clear roadmap for structural reforms. They also see some expansion in the production-linked incentives, and increased allocation to some welfare schemes while continuing to focus on infrastructure creation/upgrade.

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Also, tariff cuts to encourage local manufacturing are expected.

Increased allocations to boost job creation and skills, lower customs duties on intermediaries and increase in agriculture investments are also high on the list of expectations. Measures for accelerating domestic demand and private consumption are also expected.

11:52 am: Over 100 provisions to be decriminalised with Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0.

11:47 am: Fiscal Deficit for FY 26 at 4.4 percent

11:45 am: New Income Tax Bill to be introduced next week. Insurance FDI hiked 74 percent to 100 percent.

11:38 am: Focus on Buddhist religious places and their development.

11:37 am: Top 50 tourist destinations will be developed alongside states across the country.

11:35 am: Government to launch modified UDAN scheme to connect 120 destinations, help 4 crore additional passengers in next 10 years.

11:30 am: Electricity distribution reforms and intra-state transmission capacity will be incentivised to improve the financial health of DISCOMS.

11:27 am: ID cards and registration on E Sharm Portal for Gig and Platform workers; they will be provided healthcare under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana, likely to affect 1 crore workers.

11:26: Cancer centres to be set up in districts across the country.

11:25 am: The government aims to bring in 75,000 additional medical seats in the next 5 years.

11:23 am: Broadband will be introduced to government secondary educational institutions under the Bharat Net program to secondary educational institutions.

11:22 am: The Central government will enhance the limit for the interest subvention scheme for Kisan Credit Card from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Credit guarantee cover to be doubled to Rs 20 crore, guarantee fee moderated to 1 pc.

11:15 am: India Post to be transformed into large public logistic organisation with 1.5 lakh rural post offices to become catalyst for rural economy, says Sitaraman.

11:10 am: Center to set up Makhana Board in Bihar. A food processing institute will also be set up in the state under the National Manufacturing Mission.

11:09: Center to launch six-year plan for Aatma Nirbharta in pulses, especially Toor and Urad among others, with a focus on agriculture and farmers in the country.

11:00 am: Nirmala Sitharaman begins historic 8th speech as finance minister in the Parliament amid commotion and sloganeering. The proposed development measures in Budget 2025 span ten broad areas focusing on Garib, Youth, Annadata and Nari are as follows.

10:41 am: The opposition too is hopeful for some relief for the middle class, however, has little hope. “Budget has an intent, content – it both makes the extent of the budget. We don’t have much expectations from the budget that some big announcements will be made and that will encourage private investment… Let’s see if there will be some tax relaxation for the middle class or not. Also, we need to see if the investors get some relaxation from the ‘tax terrorism’. We have demanded some reforms in GST. Modi 3.0 is being discussed all over the world, let’s see when GST 2.0 comes,” said Congress MP Jairam Ramesh.

10:04 am: Prime Minister Narender Modi arrives at the Parliament House for the cabinet meeting.

Expectations of relief on income tax, particularly for the lower middle class, are high after Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the goddess of wealth for elevating the poor and middle class.

“I pray to Goddess Lakshmi that the poor and the middle-class sections in the country are blessed by her,” Modi said on Friday while speaking to reporters outside Parliament before the start of the Budget session.

10:00 am: “The Budget will be presented in the Parliament shortly. There are many challenges before Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman because the growth has slowed down. This has lowered people’s income and employment opportunities. The government will have to provide incentives for economic growth and strong treasury,” said Economic expert Suryakant Shukla.

9:55 am: Sitharaman and other Union ministers arrive at the Parliament ahead of a pre-budget cabinet meeting at 10 am.

9:41 am: Nirmala Sitharaman and MoS Finance Pankaj Chaudhary met President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan ahead of the Budget 2025.

**EDS: SCREENGRAB VIA PTI VIDEO** New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a meeting before the latter presents the Union Budget 2025-26, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

9:14 am: Sitharaman, India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister, broke away from the colonial tradition of carrying a Budget briefcase in July 2019, opting instead for a traditional ‘bahi-khata’, to carry the Union Budget papers. She posed before the media with her team in the process of preparation of the budget.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outside the Finance Ministry ahead of the presentation of the ‘Union Budget 2025-26’, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (PTI Photo/Atul Yadav)

She continued this custom the following year, and in the pandemic-affected 2021, she replaced the traditional papers with a digital tablet to carry her speech and other Budget documents.

Draped in an off-white handloom silk saree with fish-themed embroidery and golden border, Sitharaman posed for the traditional ‘briefcase’ photo outside her North Block office.

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