Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her eighth successive Union Budget speech on Saturday for fiscal year 2025-26. Her address lasted 1 hour and 14 minutes, which was the shortest budget speech of her eight years in the role.
Budget Speech Records for Sitharaman
Sitharaman is known to be the longest Budget speech in Indian history, delivered in 2020, for two hours and 40 minutes. She had to conclude that speech early, leaving two pages unread.
Her shortest Budget speech was actually made in February 2024 when she presented the interim budget in merely 56 minutes. The shortest budget speech in the history of India, however, was given by Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel, who delivered an 800-word interim budget address in the year 1977.
At a time when the economy faces concerns of slowdown and increasing demands for tax relief to the middle class, Sitharaman presents the eighth successive Budget. “The tax proposals focus on income tax reforms, rationalization of TDS, and easing compliance,” she said while presenting the 2025-26 Budget. She also announced that the government will introduce a new Income Tax (I-T) Bill in Parliament next week.
Key Tax Reforms
Sitharaman declared that taxpayers earning up to ₹1.28 million ($14,800) per year will not have to pay income tax. The threshold for exemption is raised from ₹700,000.
Income tax rates have also been lowered for individuals earning above that threshold. The government estimates it will lose around ₹1 trillion in tax income due to these proposals, Sitharaman said.
Budget 2025: New Tax Slabs
Following are the revised tax slabs under the new tax regime for FY26:
- Up to ₹4 lakh per annum – Nil
- Between ₹4 lakh and ₹8 lakh – 5%
- Between ₹8 lakh and ₹12 lakh – 10%
- Between ₹12 lakh and ₹16 lakh – 15%
- Between ₹16 lakh and ₹20 lakh – 20%
- Between ₹20 lakh and ₹24 lakh – 25%
- Above ₹24 lakh – 30%
There’s a massive difference in the new tax regime – the nil tax slab applies on annual incomes of up to ₹12 lakh, and up to ₹12.75 lakh in the case of salaried individuals if there is a standard deduction of ₹75,000.
