India, Feb. 11 -- For decades, the Union Budget in India was treated as a national moment of anticipation. Households waited to learn what would become cheaper or costlier, businesses scanned tax changes, and analysts debated winners and losers. It functioned as a once-a-year reset button, signalling shifts in prices, subsidies, and fiscal priorities. Yet the meaning of the Budget has been evolving for some time, and Budget 2026 makes that transformation unmistakable. The document is no longer merely a ledger of revenue and expenditure; it has become a framework for governance and long-term direction.

This shift did not occur suddenly. Over the past decade, several institutional changes have quietly altered the character of fiscal policy...