FM takes part in customary halwa ceremony marking the final stage of Budget preparation
The ceremony is a customary ritual in which traditional dessert ‘halwa’ is prepared and served to officials and staff members of the finance ministry who are involved in the preparation of the budget.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday participated in the traditional 'halwa' ceremony, marking the final stage for the preparation of the Union Budget 2026-27, to be unveiled on February 1 in the Lok Sabha.
The ceremony took place at the North Block on Raisina Hill, the old address of the Finance Ministry.
The ceremony is a customary ritual in which traditional dessert ‘halwa’ is prepared and served to officials and staff members of the finance ministry who are involved in the preparation of the budget.
The ‘halwa ceremony’ precedes the 'lock-in' of the officials involved in preparation of the Union Budget, an official statement said.
Maintaining the tradition, it was organised in the basement of North Block, which was attended by the finance minister and other high-ranking officials.
The Union Budget will be presented on February 1, 2026.
As part of the ceremony, the Union Finance Minister also took a tour of the Budget press and reviewed the preparations, besides extending her best wishes to the entire Budget team.
At the halwa ceremony, the Finance Minister was accompanied by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and the secretaries of all the departments under the Ministry of Finance and other senior officers involved in the Budget preparation.
Nirmala Sitharaman will present Budget 2026-27, the ninth straight Budget in a row, in the backdrop of an expected GDP growth of 7.6% this financial year amid global geopolitical headwinds.
Like the previous five full Union Budgets and one interim, the full Union Budget 2026-27 will also be delivered in a paperless form.
All Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as the Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill, etc., will also be available on the 'Union Budget Mobile App' for hassle-free access to Budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the general public in a digitally accessible mode.
The app is bilingual (English and Hindi) and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms, according to the official statement. The Budget documents will be available on the mobile app and the website after the completion of the Budget speech by the Finance Minister in Parliament on February 1, it added.
Edited by Swetha Kannan