Budget 2026 Update: Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the third full budget of the Modi 3.0 government. In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made major announcements regarding health, employment, education, and women, and outlined a roadmap for making India a developed nation by 2047.

She announced the construction of rail corridors in seven major Indian cities and a nominal fee for filing ITRs until March 31st. Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced a proposal to reduce the customs duty rate on all goods imported for personal use from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. This will make the customs duty structure simpler and more rational. Find out what was special about the budget below (A to Z).

How Special Was Budget 2026?

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her budget speech in the Lok Sabha by extending greetings on the birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas. During this, she proposed reducing the customs duty rate from 20% to 10%. She said, “I propose a special one-time scheme to facilitate eligible manufacturing units in SEZs (Special Economic Zones) to sell their products in the domestic market at concessional duty.”

Basic customs duty will not be levied on raw materials imported for manufacturing aircraft parts used defencense sector units for maintenance, repair, or other needs. She also proposed exempting the import of capital goods necessary for processing critical minerals in India from basic customs duty. She further stated, “I propose that the basic customs duty exemption on goods required for nuclear power projects be extended until 2035 and apply to all nuclear power plants.”

Important Budget Highlights

– Nirmala Sitharaman said, “I propose that the basic customs duty exemption given on capital goods used in the manufacture of lithium-ion cells for batteries be extended to goods used in the manufacture of lithium-ion cells for Battery Energy Storage Systems.” – Nirmala Sitharaman said, “I propose to increase the limit for duty-free import of specified inputs used in the processing of seafood for export from the current 1% to 3% of the FOB value of the previous year’s export turnover.”

– In the budget, she announced that the period for filing revised returns will be extended from December 31st to March 31st, for which only a nominal charge will be levied. I propose to stagger the deadlines for filing tax returns – the deadline for individuals filing ITR 1 and ITR 2 will be July 31st, while for non-audited businesses or trusts, the deadline will be August 31st.

– Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated at 55.6%. I propose to reduce the TCS rate under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme for education and medical purposes from 5% to 2%. The government has also accepted the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission.

It has been decided to maintain the vertical share at 41%. Rs 1.4 lakh crore has been allocated to the states for the financial year 2026-27. I propose to reduce the TCS rate on the sale of overseas tour packages from the current 5% and 20% to 2%, without any monetary limit. Additionally, there is a proposal to reduce the TCS rate under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme for education and medical purposes from 5% to 2%.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that “the fiscal deficit in FY 2026-27 is estimated to be 4.4 per cent of GDP. The fiscal deficit in FY 2027 is estimated to be 4.3% of GDP.” She added, “I propose a scheme for small taxpayers under which they can obtain a lower or zero deduction certificate under a rule-based automated process.”