E-Paper
What does Budget 2026-27 have for the common man? Several measures explained
Nirmala Sitharaman’s 81-minute-long Budget speech saw no change in income tax slabs but included a major focus on three “kartavyas” of the government.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday presented the Union Budget 2026, with some measures intended to bring relief to the common man with key reforms.
Sitharaman’s 81-minute-long Budget speech saw no change in income tax slabs but included major announcements that focused on three “kartavyas” or duties of the central government - accelerating and sustaining economic growth; fulfilling aspirations of the people; and the vision of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’.
The reforms focus on students, farmers, women, healthcare workers, investors and taxpayers that will benefit the common man.
Budget 2026: Common man in focus
About farmers
Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a Coconut Promotion Scheme to increase production and improve productivity, boosting India's competitiveness in coconut cultivation. She also announced a dedicated programme for Indian cashew and cocoa, with the objective of making India self-reliant in raw cashew and coconut production and processing, while enhancing export competitiveness. These schemes mostly target the farmers in southern India, two of whose states (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) go to polls a little later this year.
Income taxpayers
Individual taxpayers did not get any relief in terms of changes in the income tax slabs, but will get more relaxations in filing their IT returns. Nirmala Sitharaman proposed extending the deadline for filing revised ITRs to 31 March, from the current December 31. The updated ITR filing also got a revamp in Budget 2026.
“As an additional measure for reducing litigation, I propose to allow taxpayers to update their returns even after reassessment proceedings have been initiated, at an additional 10% tax rate over and above the rate applicable for the relevant year. The assessing officer will then use only this updated return in his proceedings,” the finance minister said in her speech.
Medicines get cheaper
In her Union Budget 2026 speech, Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled steps to reduce treatment costs for cancer patients by removing basic customs duty on 17 medicines. She also announced that import duty exemptions would be extended to drugs, medicines and specialised medical food brought in for the treatment of seven additional rare diseases.
There are also tax relief measures intended to lower the financial burden on patients, particularly those undergoing cancer treatment, while expanding duty-free personal imports for medicines and food for special medical purposes used in the treatment of rare diseases.
STT hiked on future and options
Nirmala Sitharaman proposed increasing the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on derivatives to curb excessive speculation in the F&O segment.
She announced that STT on futures contracts would be raised to 0.05% from 0.02%. “STT on options premium and exercise of options are both proposed to be raised to 0.15% from the present rate of 0.1% and 0.125% respectively.”
Measures for students
The finance minister proposed reducing the Tax Collection at Source (TCS) rate to 2% for education purposes under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), as well as for the sale of overseas tour packages.
The government will also set up an 'Education to Employment and Enterprise' standing committee to recommend measures that focus on the growth of the services sector, the FM announced.
As part of the education push, the FM also proposed to set up a new National Institute of Design in eastern India, as well as five university townships near major industrial and logistics corridors. Sitharaman further proposed the construction of a girls' hostel in every district of the country and the setting up of community-owned ‘She MARTS’.
Banking reforms
Budget 2026 proposes a high-level committee to review the banking sector. Public sector NBFCs like PFC and REC will be restructured to improve efficiency.
