Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for the ninth time on February 1, 2026. Photo courtesy: Reuters
The Union Budget 2026-27 will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (February 1, 2026). This will be the minister’s ninth budget speech and is being keenly watched by citizens and experts to assess the economic health of the country and its future.
But the annual financial statement has had a colorful past, from briefcases to ‘ledgers’ to ‘blue sheets’, here are some interesting things to know about it.
Read this also Key terms that will help you understand Budget 2026
Indian time change from London
Historically the Budget was presented at 5pm on the last day of February, in line with the working hours of British officials in London. This was changed in 1999 by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who announced the budget at 11 am on the same business day to make it easier for Indian officials to work on it. The new tradition has continued since then.
The tradition of announcing the budget on the last day of February was also changed in 2017 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who introduced it on February 1 to give officials time to approve the budget before the start of the new financial year on April 1.
Briefcase to ‘Bahi Khata’
The red briefcase was used to carry budget documents in line with British tradition for more than 70 years.
But in 2019, Ms Sitharaman broke with tradition by moving the budget to ‘bahi-khata’, a traditional ledger used by accountants across the country. In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the budget went paperless. But the tradition of carrying digital tablets in a red box like ‘Bahi-Khata’ continued, creating a blend of modernity and tradition.
speeches from longest to shortest
The record for the longest budget speech (in terms of duration) is held by Ms Sitharaman, who delivered the speech for 2 hours and 42 minutes in 2020, after which she had to stop due to exhaustion.
The record for the longest speech (in terms of words) is held by former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, whose 1991 speech contained 18,650 words.
The fastest was created by Morarji Desai in 1977, with only 800 words.
‘Halwa’ Ceremony
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman distributes Halwa during the Halwa ceremony as the beginning of the final phase of Budget preparations for the ‘lock in’ process, at North Block in New Delhi on January 27, 2026. Photo courtesy: ANI
Just before the presentation of the Budget, ‘Halwa’ or a traditional North Indian sweet is made at the Budget Press located in North Block, New Delhi.
The Finance Minister traditionally stirs the sweets and then serves them to the officials as a sign of appreciation for their hard work. But a ‘lock in’ period is also beginning in which the Budget is completed and rarely edited and all officials involved in the process remain completely cut off from the outside world until the Minister presents the Budget in Parliament.
‘Blue Sheet’
The elusive ‘blue sheet’ is the master sheet of the budget and one of the heavily guarded secrets of North Block. The ‘sheet’, traditionally coded in blue, is a detailed outline of all the calculations in the budget and helps the reader understand the lengthy financial document at a glance.
It is so secret that even the Finance Minister is not allowed to take the ‘Blue Sheet’ outside North Block and the finalization of the Blue Sheet triggers a ‘lock in’ period in which no outside contact of officials is allowed.
The Budget 2026-27 will be announced in Parliament on February 1, triggering a period of intense calculations and predictions about the coming financial year.
published – January 29, 2026 11:49 am IST