Budget 2026, Feb. 1 -- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has in the Union Budget 2026 pegged India's fiscal deficit at 4.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) for FY27, as against 4.4% for FY26.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on 1 February (Sunday), Sitharaman said, "The government has been delivering on our fiscal commitments consistently without compromising on social needs. To strive towards accepted standards of fiscal management, in Budget 2025-26, I had indicated that the Central Government would target reaching a debt-to-GDP ratio of 50±1% by 2030-31."

Highlighting the sustained increase in government capital expenditure (capex) over the years, Sitharaman in her Budget speech proposed to increase the government capex to Rs.12.2 la...