Parliament approved the General Budget 2026-27: Finance Minister Sitharaman said – there is no scope for lockdown, leaders should stop spreading misconceptions.

New Delhi. Parliament on Friday approved the General Budget 2026-27 and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in view of the skyrocketing international prices of crude oil due to the West Asia conflict, bluntly said that there is no scope for lockdown in India and misunderstanding should not be spread about it. Rajya Sabha returned the Finance Bill 2026-27 by voice vote after the Finance Minister’s reply. Along with this, the Upper House also returned the supplementary demands for grants and the related Appropriation Bill by voice vote. Lok Sabha has already approved these.

Responding to the discussion on the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Sitharaman said that steps are being taken to develop the country and fulfill the aspirations of 140 crore Indian citizens. During the discussion, some members had raised the question that after reducing the excise tax on petrol and diesel, how will the government achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4.3 percent in the 2026 financial year? Responding to this, the Finance Minister said that the revenue from excise duty contributes about 10 percent to the total revenue of the government.

Sitharaman said that mobilizing additional resources, giving priority to development-promoting expenditure, better targeting of welfare expenditure and greater transparency in fiscal functioning have been the important hallmarks of the government. He said that by following these the government will be able to maintain its fiscal stance. He expressed hope that this would also be compensated by collecting more funds through non-tax revenue.

The Finance Minister expressed hope that the government will be able to face this situation because ‘we are very cautious’. He pointed out that after the West Asia crisis, oil prices have increased by 30 to 50 percent in various countries across the world. He said that in the last four years, after Russia and Ukraine, there is tremendous pressure on the prices of crude oil and fertilizers.

The Finance Minister said that but this sentence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is proving to be the guide for all the policies of the government that ‘our citizens should not be burdened’. He said that the government has issued a notification in which the excise tax on petrol has been reduced from Rs 13 to Rs 3 per liter while the Rs 10 per liter tax on diesel has been reduced to zero.

Sitharaman said that the result is that the prices of petrol and diesel in India remain unchanged. He said that the aim of the government is to protect the common man in the country from the effects of fluctuations in international prices of crude oil and irregularities in its supply.

He said that export duty has been increased on the oil refining companies in India which are sending the oil out after refining. The Finance Minister cited the rising prices of petrol and diesel in neighboring countries like Pakistan. He said that some leaders are spreading misconceptions that lockdown will be imposed.

He said, “There is no scope for lockdown in India. Leaders should stop spreading this misconception. Baseless rumours.. say anything to spread fear in the minds of the public. Lockdown is happening in Pakistan, not in India.” He completely rejected the allegations of the government imposing more taxes on the poor and giving relief to the rich and said that whether it was indirect taxes or GST, there was no discrimination between rich and poor in any of them.

The Finance Minister said that the government spends more than what it collects through cess and surcharge. He said that if crude oil and GST compensation were excluded, the overall cess collection was estimated at Rs 23.34 lakh crore, whereas the government has spent Rs 24.82 lakh crore in these sectors.

The Finance Minister had presented the general budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1 and with that the process of passing the budget in the Parliament started. This process was completed today with the passing of the Finance Bill. The General Budget 2026-27 proposes a total expenditure of Rs 53.47 lakh crore, an increase of 7.7 per cent compared to the current financial year ending March 31, 2026.

The total capital expenditure proposed for the next financial year is Rs 12.2 lakh crore. It proposes gross tax revenue collection of Rs 44.04 lakh crore and gross borrowing of Rs 17.2 lakh crore. The budget estimates fiscal deficit for the coming fiscal year at 4.3 percent of GDP, which is lower than 4.4 percent in the current fiscal year.