New Delhi, Feb 1: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday presented a Rs 53.47 lakh crore Budget for 2026-27, up 7.7 per cent from the current financial year ending March 31.
As per the Revised Estimate, the size of the Budget for the current fiscal is Rs 49.64 lakh crore, lower from Rs 50.65 lakh crore estimated in February 2025.
The Budget for fiscal 2024-25 was at Rs 46.52 lakh crore.
The government estimates its total expenditure at Rs 53.47 lakh crore in the next fiscal.
In 2026-27, the non-debt receipts and the total expenditure are estimated as Rs 36.5 lakh crore and Rs 53.5 lakh crore, respectively. The Centre’s net tax receipts are estimated at Rs 28.7 lakh crore.
“To finance the fiscal deficit, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.7 lakh crore. The balance financing is expected to come from small savings and other sources. The gross market borrowings are estimated at Rs 17.2 lakh crore,” Sitharaman said.
Sitharaman also said the government will meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.4 per cent of GDP for the current fiscal, as estimated in the Budget for 2025-26.
The fiscal deficit in BE 2026-27 is estimated to be 4.3 per cent of GDP or Rs 16.95 lakh crore.
To finance the fiscal deficit during 2026-27, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.7 lakh crore.
The balance financing is expected to come from small savings and other sources. The gross market borrowings are estimated at Rs 17.2 lakh crore.
“The GDP for FY 2026-27 is estimated at Rs 393,00,393 crore, which is 10 per cent over the Advance Estimates for FY 2025-26 of Rs 357,13, 886 crore released by NSO,” according to the Budget documents.
Sitharaman said that the government has been delivering on fiscal commitments consistently without compromising on social needs.
To strive towards accepted standards of fiscal management, in Budget 2025-26, she had indicated that the central government would target reaching a debt-to-GDP ratio of 50±1 per cent by 2030-31.
“In line with this, the debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated to be 55.6 per cent of GDP in BE 2026-27, compared to 56.1 per cent of GDP in RE 2025-26,” she said.
A declining debt-to-GDP ratio will gradually free up resources for priority sector expenditure by reducing the outgo on interest payments, she added.
Meanwhile, according to the RE for 2025-26, the non-debt receipts are pegged at Rs 34 lakh crore, of which the Centre’s net tax receipts are Rs 26.7 lakh crore.
The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs 49.6 lakh crore, of which the capital expenditure is about Rs 11 lakh crore during the current fiscal.
The finance minister announced no changes to income tax rates and slabs for fiscal year 2026-’27.
Sitharaman announced that tax-paying timelines will be staggered and the deadline for revising filed income tax returns will be extended from December 31 to March 31, on the payment of a nominal fee.
The deadline for those filing ITR-1 – meant for salaried individuals and pensioners earning up to Rs 50 lakh – and ITR-2 – meant for individuals and Hindu Undivided Families who do not fall in the ITR-1 category – will remain July 31.
She confirmed that the 2025 Income Tax Act, which replaces the 1961 Income Tax Act, will take effect from April 1. The law was cleared by Parliament in August.
India’s fiscal deficit is estimated to be 4.3 percent of the gross domestic product in the financial year 2026-27, Sitharaman told Parliament. This will be marginally lower than the Budget estimate of 4.4 percent in 2025-26.
India’s debt-to-gross domestic product is estimated to be 55.6 percent in the next financial year, marginally lower than the revised estimate of 56.1 percent in the fiscal year 2025-26.
The debt-to-GDP ratio measures a country’s total debt against the size of its economy. Last year, Sitharaman had indicated that the government was targeting a debt-to-GDP ratio of 51 percent by 2030-31. (PTI)
