Highlights: FM Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement on February 1 brings a gift for the Indian middle class with no tax payable up to ₹12 lakh income.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget 2025 this week. This will be her eig

New Delhi: The Centre has introduced customs duty rationalisation to ensure that the Indian economy becomes aatmanirbhar (self-reliant), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a post-budget interview with NDTV.

LIVE: During the Union Budget 2025 announcements, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that under the new tax slabs, over one crore taxpayers will be exempt from paying taxes

Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday described the Union Budget as "by the people, for the people, of the people". Sitharaman - who presented her record eight consecutive budget on Saturday - said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fully behind the idea to cut taxes but it took time to convince the

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2025-26, marking her shortest full budget speech at 1 hour and 14 minutes. Notable past achievements include delivering the longest budget speech in 2020 and presenting India's first paperless budget in 2021.

Sitharaman will present the budget today at 11:00 am. The Parliamentary Budget session kicked off on January 31, 2025. The session is being conducted in two phases: the first part runs from January 31 to February 13, while the second segment is scheduled between March 10 and April 4.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday, highlighting the government's commitment to uplifting the poor (garib), youth, farmers (annadata), and women (nari).