Despite being a Sunday, India’s stock markets will be open for trading on February 1, the day when the Union Government will present the Budget for 2026. NSE and BSE, the two leading exchanges, announced that the schedule for that day will be as per standard timings.
"On account of the presentation of the Union Budget, members are requested to note that the Exchange shall be conducting live trading session on February 01, 2026, as per the standard market timings (9:15 am-3:30 pm)," said NSE in a circular.
The Union Budget for 2026 will be presented at 11 am on February 1. It will be Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth consecutive Union Budget presentation.This will be the first time since 2000 that the Budget will be presented on a Sunday. Sitharaman had presented it on a Saturday last year.
Ahead of the Budget, the important Economic Survey will be released by the Ministry of Finance. This will be followed by a press briefing by Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V. Anantha Nageswaran.
The budget for 2026 comes at an important time for India’s equity market which has been facing heat due to geopolitical and tariff related woes. After underperforming major markets in calendar year 2025, benchmark indices – BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 – are down up to 2% so far in 2026.