Nirmala Sitharaman to address RBI board on budget 2025-26, fiscal roadmap

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to address the Reserve Bank of India's central board on February 8 and highlight key points of the Budget FY26, including significant income tax relief to boost demand.

The meeting would take place a day after the RBI announces the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting amid wide expectation of a rate cut by the central bank to boost moderating GDP growth.

The post-budget meeting has been scheduled for February 8 where the finance minister will address the board members and talk about announcements made in the Budget 2025-26 that strike a fine balance between growth and fiscal prudence, sources said.

It is customary for the finance minister to address the RBI board after the budget.

Unveiling the Budget on February 1 in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, "our endeavour will be to keep the fiscal deficit each year such that the central government debt remains on a declining path as a percentage of the GDP."

The government has announced a new roadmap to reduce debt-GDP ratio to about 50% by March 2031 from 57.1%.

She proposed to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.4% of the GDP in FY26 from an estimated 4.8% in the current financial year.

The total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs 34.96 lakh crore and Rs 50.65 lakh crore, respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at Rs 28.37 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated to be 4.4% of GDP.

As part of fiscal measures to boost growth, the Budget proposed significant income tax cuts for the middle class. Individuals earning up to Rs 12.75 lakh in a year will not have to pay any taxes, benefitting 1 crore taxpayers.

The Union Budget 2025-26 proposes new direct tax slabs and rates under the new income tax regime so that no tax is needed to be paid for total income up to Rs 12 lakh per annum. Salaried individuals earning up to Rs 12.75 Lakh per annum will pay nil tax, due to standard deduction of Rs 75,000.

The finance minister would be accompanied by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Finance Secretary, Economic Affairs Secretary, Expenditure Secretary, Financial Services Secretary and other senior officials.