Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (February 1) presented her ninth consecutive Budget, the Union Budget 2026. It was the ninth time that Sitharaman will present the Union Budget. She is now just behind former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who had presented 10 budgets over multiple tenures as finance minister.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a bold course for decentralised development in her 2026 Budget, starting with a massive expansion of the medical research landscape. By establishing a network of 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites, the government aims to move specialised medical research beyond Tier-1 hubs like Mumbai and Delhi into the heart of India, fostering a more inclusive healthcare ecosystem.On the agricultural and entrepreneurial front, the minister unveiled Bharat Vistar, a sophisticated multilingual AI tool designed to unify the “agri-stack” and provide farmers with data-driven insights. To strengthen the rural economy, a new credit-linked subsidy will support livestock Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), creating sustainable employment in the animal husbandry sector. Complementing these tech and livestock initiatives is the launch of She Marts, a community-owned retail model specifically built to give local women entrepreneurs a direct platform to market their products”My proposals for Customs and fiscal excise aim to further simplify the tariff structure, support domestic manufacturing, promote export competitiveness and correct inversion in duty. To continue weeding out long continuing customs duty exemptions, I propose to remove certain exemptions on items which are being manufactured in India or where the imports are negligible. Similarly, to further simplify the process of ascertaining the rate of duty applicable on a particular item. I propose to incorporate certain effective rates in various customs notifications to the tariff schedule itself,” says the FM.