New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- For the first time in India, that is Bharat's fiscal history, the Union Budget was presented on a Sunday.

Though weekend Budgets are not entirely new in India, a Sunday presentation has never happened before. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget for 2026-27 in the Lok Sabha at 11 am on Feb. 1.

Earlier, the Budget used to be presented on the last working day of February. In 1999, when Feb. 28 fell on a Sunday, then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government presented it a day earlier, on Feb. 27, a Saturday.

The 1999 Budget was also historic because until then, Union Budgets were presented in the evening at around 5 pm. It was a holdover from British colonia...