MC-Deloitte CXO Survey: Over 84% of CXOs expect no new personal income taxes in Budget 2026

New personal tax

• Executives don't anticipate new personal income tax measures in the upcoming Budget.
• 84.4% of surveyed CXOs expect no changes to personal income tax or estate duty
• Personal income tax is not widely seen as a focus area for Budget 2026

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From lower tax rates to new exemptions, expectations tend to run high ahead of every Budget. This year, however, corporate leaders expect continuity and not change.

According to a Moneycontrol-Deloitte CXO survey, which gathered responses from 45 senior executives across sectors, no such changes are expected in the Budget for the financial year 2026-28. The pre-Budget survey shows that 84.4 percent of the respondents do not expect the government to announce any new personal income tax, including levies such as estate duty.

Only 15.6 percent of those surveyed believe the government may introduce a new personal income tax measure. This suggests that most senior executives are preparing for continuity in the personal tax framework rather than factoring in new interventions. The response pattern indicates that expectations of major changes to personal taxation remain limited at this stage.

CXO survey

The survey also shows that this preference for no new taxes goes hand in hand with a broader desire for stability in personal income tax rates.

What is estate duty?

An estate duty is a tax levied on the total value of a person’s property at the time of their death. The tax became payable when the assets of the deceased were transferred to legal heirs. In India, estate duty rates once went as high as 85 percent before the law was abolished in 1985.

India does not levy estate duty. However, over the years, references in government documents and policy discussions have periodically triggered speculation about its possible reintroduction. As with previous Budget seasons, there is renewed discussion ahead of this year’s Budget as well, although there has been no official confirmation of any proposal to bring the tax back.

If reintroduced, estate duty could potentially add to government revenues. However, based on responses captured in the study, expectations of such a move remain limited among senior corporate leaders.

The survey was conducted by Moneycontrol and Deloitte between December 2025 and January 2026. The survey included CXOs from across industries such as banking and insurance, manufacturing, transport and logistics, energy, life sciences and health, telecom and tech and e-commerce.