With less than two weeks left for the presentation of the Union Budget 2026–27, experts on Monday believe the government should focus strongly on improving ease of doing business and expanding opportunities for women across sectors. 

Speaking to IANS, tax expert Manmohan Srivastava Kaju said the government had provided significant relief to taxpayers in the previous budget by increasing the income tax exemption limit to Rs 12 lakh.

“The introduction of GST 2.0, under which tax slabs were reduced to two, was also a positive step,” he added.

Looking ahead to the upcoming budget, the expert said the government should prioritise measures that make business operations simpler and more efficient.

“Traders currently face several issues on the GST portal, which often create compliance-related challenges,” he noted.

Citing an example, he said many notices are now issued only through the GST portal. As a result, a large number of traders fail to check them regularly, which sometimes leads to higher tax payments or penalties.

“The government should consider restarting physical communication alongside digital notices to avoid such problems,” he mentioned.

The Union Budget 2026–27 will be presented in Parliament on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

This will be the ninth consecutive budget presented by Sitharaman. She has already created a record by delivering the highest number of consecutive budgets after C.D. Deshmukh, who presented seven budgets in a row.

If she presents the budget for the financial year 2028 as well, she will equal the record of late Morarji Desai, who presented a total of 10 budgets across two tenures between 1959–1964 and 1967–1969.

FM Sitharaman was appointed India’s first full-time woman finance minister in 2019 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term.

Finance Minister Sitharaman continued to hold the finance portfolio after the Modi-led government secured a third consecutive term in 2024.