Most of the team of the Finance Ministry and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has shifted to the modern Kartavya Bhawan (Central Secretariat Office) in September 2025, but the printing of highly confidential documents of Budget 2026-27 will still continue in the dedicated government press of North Block. The reason for this is quite simple – the new office does not yet have any secure, confidential printing facility available that can be kept completely away from the public eye. Therefore, the old traditional place of printing the budget and hundreds of pages of documents related to it will remain intact.
Historical journey of budget printing
Initially these documents were printed in Rashtrapati Bhavan. After the leakage incident in 1950, he was shifted to the press located at Minto Road. Then from 1980, this responsibility has been handed over to the basement press of North Block, where even today the work is done with strict secrecy. Printing of budget documents is a complex and lengthy process. The staff involved have to stay in quarantine (complete isolation) for two weeks in the basement of North Block. Mobile phones, internet and external contacts are completely banned. Access to key officials is limited under confidentiality protocols. This ensures that no budget information is leaked before the budget is presented.
‘Halwa’ ceremony: the beginning of the tradition
This final and most secret phase of budget printing begins with the traditional ‘Halwa’ ceremony. The ceremony is likely to take place next week (last week of January 2026). Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other senior officials will attend the event. The distribution of halwa marks the beginning of the printing team’s quarantine. The staff then goes into complete lockdown, with no outside contact until the Budget is presented (1 February 2026).
Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth budget
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the country’s General Budget 2026-27 in the Lok Sabha on 1 February 2026. This will be his ninth consecutive budget. This will be a historic achievement.
The Indian economy is expected to register a strong growth of 7.4% in the current financial year, while inflation remains at controlled levels.
New beginning of paperless budget
Although printing is being done at the old place, the budget has now become digital to a great extent. For the first time in the year 2021, the budget was completely paperless. The Finance Minister read the Budget from a tablet and electronic documents were distributed to the MPs. Then Union Budget Mobile App was launched, in which 14 major budget documents (Annual Financial Statement, Demand Bill, Finance Bill etc.) are available. The general public and MPs can easily get information about the budget in digital format.
This change reflects a balance between age-old traditions of privacy and transparency of the digital age. The budget to be presented on 1 February 2026 will not only be a blueprint for economic policies, but will also prove to be an important step in India’s development journey.
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