Mr. Suketu Thanawala, Partner at StraCon Business Advisory & Consultancy Firm:
What this Budget gets right is its diagnosis of India's real bottlenecks. The constraint on growth is not just demand, but also logistics costs, the lack of manufacturing depth, and the difficulties that small companies face in joining global value chains. The response is practical: stepped-up and targeted capital expenditure, faster customs procedures, and manufacturing ecosystems that are sector-specific are direct solutions to the cost and scale disadvantages that Indian companies face.
Equally important is the credibility the Budget builds through fiscal discipline. That balance—between spending and restraint—matters for long-term investors and trading partners alike. Rather than chasing headline reforms, this Budget works at the operational level, where competitiveness is actually won or lost. It positions India to move from being a reliable supplier to becoming a serious, long-term player in global commerce.
Mukund Vasudevan, MD SKF India (Industrial) Limited and President – India, Southeast Asia and Middle East
"The Union Budget 2026–27 delivers a clear, confidence boosting push for India's industrial growth. Despite maintaining fiscal discipline, the higher public CAPEX of ₹12.2 lakh crore signals strong momentum for manufacturing and infrastructure. Reforms focused on financial access, technology adoption, and competitiveness lay the groundwork for long-term industrial strength - key for India to scale and compete alongside with global players. Investments in freight and industrial corridors, along with logistics upgrades, will lower costs, strengthen supply chains, and make Indian manufacturing more efficient.
MSME-focused steps such as the Growth Fund and an expanded TReDS ecosystem should ease liquidity and improve access to capital. Overall, the Budget reinforces India's direction toward localization, private investment, and resilient industrial growth, giving businesses greater clarity and confidence to scale."
Mr. Anupam Ghosh, Managing Director, Anondita Medicare Ltd: "The Budget's focus on strengthening healthcare delivery and supporting domestic manufacturing creates a supportive backdrop for preventive healthcare products. Family planning and reproductive health continue to be essential public health priorities, and wider access depends on affordability, steady manufacturing and efficient distribution. Measures that encourage local production, simplify compliance and support healthcare supply chains will help companies like ours ensure consistent availability of quality contraceptive products across both urban and rural markets."
Kushal Raj Chakravorty, Founder & Managing Trustee, Lotus Petal Foundation:
"This budget seamlessly integrates education with the industrial economy. The creation of five University Townships along industrial corridors is a landmark move that will bridge the industry-academia gap, fostering a localized ecosystem for innovation and research. Furthermore, the establishment of the 'Education to Employment and Enterprise' (EEE) Standing Committee signals a strategic shift toward future-proofing our youth against the disruptions of AI. By prioritizing women in STEM, upskilling Divyangjan, and scaling the AI and National Quantum Missions, this budget ensures that high-quality learning translates directly into global competitiveness. It is a holistic approach that prioritizes not just children's academic growth but also their long-term professional well-being and entrepreneurial spirit."
Dr. Atul Kapoor, Managing Director- Regency Health
The Union Budget 2026-27 is a major milestone in the development of the Indian healthcare industry, especially for organizations that are committed to bridging the gap in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The government's proposal to set up five regional medical hubs is a game-changer. The integration of super-specialty diagnostics, post-care rehabilitation, and Ayush centers through partnerships with the private sector is a step towards a decentralized system that provides world-class healthcare to patients without having to travel long distances.
We particularly welcome the ₹10,000 crore allocation toward the Bio-Pharma Shakti initiative, because it addresses a fundamental issue for patients, the cost of receiving their care. The domestic manufacturing incentives for biologics and biosimilars strike directly at the affordability barrier that has long constrained treatment access for chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. For patients who have faced impossible choices between financial stability and essential therapies, this signals meaningful relief.
The Budget tackles the serious skills shortage we are faced with nationally at the grassroots level, with a commitment to developing 150000 caregivers and funding key health facilities. The expanded workforce will be supplemented by work undertaken as a result of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and the focus on integrated medicine, providing a clear pathway to a technology-enhanced, holistic wellness model.
This will position India competitively on the global medical tourism map while ensuring no citizen is geographically or economically excluded from quality care. This is precisely the enabling environment that allows healthcare providers like Regency to amplify our impact, and we look forward to contributing meaningfully to this national endeavor.
"What sets this budget apart is its recognition that manufacturing competitiveness today requires more than capital, it demands integrated ecosystems of R&D, skilling, technology adoption, and patient capital. This can be the starting point of creating the institutional scaffolding for a manufacturing-led growth trajectory that is both inclusive and globally competitive. The toy manufacturing initiative is particularly transformative. By investing in research, equipment design, and material sciences, India is positioning itself as a global hub for affordable, high-quality sports goods, mirroring the strategic approach we've seen succeed in pharmaceuticals and automotive components. It is heartening to see that the consumer manufacturing sector now has the structural support it has long deserved.
Additionally with ₹10,000 crore dedicated to creating 'champion SMEs' and ₹10,000 crore for the Fund of Funds for Startups- this budget transcends incremental policy adjustments to architect a comprehensive ecosystem for scale and innovation. As well for startups, the doubling of credit guarantee coverage and mandatory TReDS adoption by central PSEs addresses the twin challenges of capital access and working capital management that have constrained hypergrowth. This isn't just funding, it's the plumbing infrastructure that allows innovation to scale.- Attributed to, Vivek Singhal Co - Founder, BIDSO.
Pramod Kathuria, Founder & CEO, Easiloan, on the Union Budget 2026:
The Union Budget 2026 reinforces the significance of housing and urban development as a crucial agenda of India's growth strategy. With sustained emphasis on infrastructure outlays and a stable financial structure, the overall framework for residential demand remains conducive. Clarity and predictability in taxation and interest rates can further enhance the confidence of homebuyers, especially first-time and end-use homebuyers. Policies that promote long-term homeownership and ensure transparency will go a long way in maintaining the momentum in the housing market.
Govind Sankaranarayanan, Co-founder & COO, Ecofy
"Budget 2026 again seeks to reinforce the NBFC sector. In particular, the expanded MSME framework, including over ₹7 lakh crore in liquidity support through a mandatory TReDS regime for CPSE procurement, credit guarantees for invoice discounting via CGTMSE, and the creation of a secondary market for trade receivables, will materially improve cash flows and de-risk lending.
The ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, along with the ₹2,000 crore top-up to the Self Reliant India Fund, strengthens access to both growth and risk capital for enterprises across the MSME spectrum, while initiatives such as Corporate Mitras enhance compliance capability.
Sharply targeted reforms, such as the above, are likely to be effective in achieving their objectives.
We also welcome the extension of customs duty exemptions on capital goods for battery energy storage systems and key inputs such as sodium antimonate for solar glass manufacturing, which will support clean energy deployment and domestic manufacturing competitiveness."
Kulpreet Sahni, Founder & CEO, Chiltier
The Budget's emphasis on semiconductors, rare earth corridors, and industry-driven R&D is a big positive for the hardware and deep tech ecosystem in India. For climate tech and advanced wearables, the ability to tap into domestic components, power electronics, and materials is essential to developing robust and affordable solutions at scale. The emphasis on skills and research centers is equally important. Hardware innovation drives high-quality employment opportunities in design, engineering, and manufacturing, and positions India favorably in the world's supply chains. This is a great way to encourage founders working on applied technologies with practical applications, and to help India move from assembly to full-stack innovation.
Deepak verma, Head of Business, Pacecourt
The Khelo India Mission, now extended for a further 10 years, is a much-needed initiative that understands sports as a long-term national infrastructure and not merely an activity that takes place through events. As India readies itself for a long-term sports infrastructure build-out in schools, developments, and public spaces, and as it prepares for the Commonwealth Games in the next decade, the need to shift the focus from short-term build-out to the long-term design of these infrastructure assets is essential. Long-term, standardized, and climate-resilient sports surfaces are critical to ensuring that public investments are channeled into sports infrastructure that remains safe, playable, and functional over a period of high usage. The success of this mission will not only be measured by the number of courts constructed but also by the quality of these courts that can withstand the test of time .
Prashant Mishra, Founder and Ceo, Agnam Advisors
Union Budget 2026 focuses on growth through higher spending on infrastructure, manufacturing and jobs, while still aiming to gradually reduce the fiscal deficit. Lower customs duties on EVs, electronics and essential medicines, along with new support for MSMEs, startups and urban infrastructure, are positive for the economy and for sectors like manufacturing, financials and domestic businesses. However, large government borrowing and global uncertainty have kept markets volatile, showing that actual execution and company earnings matter more than budget headlines. On the tax front, the government has largely kept the new tax system unchanged, with some relief through easier TDS/TCS rules and higher limits for rent, remittances and senior citizens, but without major rate cuts. Overall, the budget supports India's medium-term growth story and reinforces the need for disciplined investing, diversification and tax efficiency rather than quick portfolio changes based only on budget-day reactions.
Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Group Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani, and former Director, IIT Delhi-
"The Budget's emphasis on connecting education to employment, alongside investments in strategic technology ecosystems, is a timely signal that India is serious about building capability at scale. The proposed 'Education to Employment and Enterprise' Standing Committee, coupled with the creation of university townships with shared research infrastructure, can be a decisive step, provided it translates into sustained funding, high-quality faculty development, and genuine institutional autonomy. If we want to meaningfully reduce the outflow of talented students, we must expand capacity without diluting standards, and ensure that world-class teaching and research pathways are available within India.
It is also encouraging to see a stronger, much-needed focus on mental health and wellbeing in the broader education and health agenda, because student success and workforce readiness depend not only on skills, but also on the support systems that help young people thrive.
Equally notable is the momentum on deep-tech, particularly with India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and the focus on full-stack design, domestic IP, and industry-led research and training centres. This is exactly where India needs strong academia–industry bridges: translational research frameworks that move from labs to prototypes to deployment, supported by clear governance and patient capital. The proposed AI capacity building thrust and the broader missions around quantum and research funding should now be aligned with outcome-oriented programmes, interdisciplinary curricula, shared testbeds, and mission-mode centres, so that publicly funded research strengthens competitiveness and creates high-quality jobs at home."
Prof Arya Kumar Dean alumni relations, and Senior Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus-
"Budget has a focus on balanced growth with announcements to promote MSMEs , manufacturing , tourism, energy sector and infrastructure which would give a push to growth, employment and exports. However, budget could have given further push to ongoing specific initiatives to promote startups , deep tech ventures through encouraging investments in research and fiscal reliefs which are missing. The hike in STT has adversely affected the capital markets and overall sentiments in the market."
Dr. Nishant Sapra, Assistant Professor, T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal Academy of Higher Education- The Union Budget 2026 is strengthening the corporate and municipal bond markets to save budgetary resources and, instead, inviting the public to directly fund municipal infrastructure and activities. These developments will drive demand for finance graduates skilled in bond structuring, credit risk, regulation, and investment strategy. These skills are central to TAPMI's MBA curricula but will require leveraging additional initiatives, such as University township schemes under Budget 2026, for research, industry engagement, and executive education. We are witnessing a transition from bank-based funding to market-based funding, prominent in developed countries.
Sitharaman has a clear message for future direction of India's financial sector
Budget 2026, setting the blueprint for the next phase of growth for a now stronger and healthier banking system, comes as good news for banking and finance graduates. But this will also require resetting the skill set, including regulatory intelligence, risk management, and technological proficiency, in a world with a continuously expanding basket of financial offerings and instruments. In a way, TAPMI can contribute to this goal by equipping students with essential skills and practical exposure to technology-driven financial services with their curated MBA in Banking & Financial Services (BKFS) program. With the right implementation strategy for this blueprint, we can nurture a new generation of capable, future-ready leaders in banking and financial services.
Mr. Ravi Mittal, Founder & CEO of QuackQuack & Rebounce says the Budget's strong push towards decentralising India's startup ecosystem is both timely and transformative. As a platform witnessing massive growth from non-metro India, we welcome the scaled-up GENESIS programme and the expanded Fund of Funds. This directly addresses the biggest hurdle for founders outside the big metros: Access to Capital.
For a digital-first business, the Ease of Doing Business is just as important as funding. The Budget's focus on simplifying compliance for digital startups and the continued investment in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) will be the real catalyst. It lowers the barrier to entry, allowing entrepreneurs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities to focus on building a product rather than paperwork. This essentially bridges the gap between India and Bharat, ensuring that the next wave of tech innovation is inclusive, widespread, and grassroots-led."
Prof Sanket Goel, Chair Professor and Head (Center for Research Excellence in Semiconductor Technologies- CREST), BITS Pilani.
"Today's Budget marks a strategic leap for our country, moving from a semiconductor consumer to designer to manufacturer to a semiconductor 'Architect.' I find the launch of ISM 2.0 a perfectly aligned step in this direction. By focusing on the production of equipment and materials and the design of 'Full-stack Indian IP,' the most critical, high-value layers of the value chain will be addressed. This isn't just about manufacturing; it's about technological sovereignty.
The expansion of the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme to ₹40,000 crore and the creation of 'Rare Earth Corridors' provide the physical and material backbone needed for truly scalable microelectronics. For the research community, the commitment to industry-led training centers is a call to action. We are now ready to bridge the gap between lab-scale innovation and global-scale manufacturing, ensuring India owns the intellectual, equipment and material core of the future's semiconductor hardware."
Dr. Ashwin Fernandes -Chair, QS India and Vice President, Strategic and International Engagement -
"The government's move to create 5 university townships in the vicinity of major industrial and logistic corridors is a very novel move that could go a long way in bridging the gap between academics and industry. It's great to note that these planned academic zones will also host research institutions and skill centres. The budget's proposal to establish one girls hostel in every district will greatly help students who indulge in prolonged hours of study and laboratory work in STEM institutions. Also interesting is the move to promote astrophysics and astronomy by setting up or upgrading 4 telescope infrastructure facilities. It is heartening to see that the department of higher education has seen an increase in allocation to Rs. 55,724 crore, rising by approximately 11.3%. The budget has also proposed to establish content labs in 15,000 secondary schools, which again is a very innovative move."
Gauri Sreekumar, Assistant Professor,TAPMI
The Union Budget 2026 focuses on promoting 'Orange Economy' and creative education through Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (Mumbai) and by setting up AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics) content creator labs, tourism-led employment, digital knowledge systems and inclusive education infrastructure signalling a clear shift towards talent-driven, future-ready growth. This is significant for bridging skill gaps in high-growth creative and service sectors.
By prioritising AVGC, design education, hospitality and tourism ecosystems, the initiatives proposed aims to strengthen the link between education, employability, entrepreneurship and local economic growth. Importantly, it highlights a shift beyond mainstream disciplines by recognising and investing in so-called "off-beat" creative and applied fields, consisting of those areas many students are keen to pursue but have lacked access due to resource constraints. The focus on inclusive infrastructure, such as one girls' hostel per district under the VGF (Viability Gap Funding) scheme, directly supports female participation in time-intensive STEM and laboratory-based education. At the same time, targeted investments in tourism through a National Institute of Hospitality as well as structured, industry-linked skilling of local guides position the tourism sector as a key driver of youth employment, forex earnings and local economic development.
These initiatives encourage institutions to redesign curricula that are industry-relevant and interdisciplinary. Institutions like TAPMI, alongside flagship core MBA programs, is already advancing this shift through specialized offerings in AI & Data Science (AI & DS) and Banking & Financial Services (BKFS), which are closely aligned with industry requirements and focused on continuous upskilling, better preparing students for rapidly evolving career pathways. At the same time, dedicated programs in tourism management, particularly those focusing on sustainable tourism and foreign exchange management reflect how education is increasingly adapting to emerging sectors that combine economic growth with sustainability and global engagement.
By investing in creative education, gender-inclusive access and tourism skilling, India is laying the foundation for a dynamic, innovation-oriented and resilient talent ecosystem capable of sustaining high-value growth and global competitiveness for the coming years.
Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General, ICC (Indian Chamber of Commerce), on behalf of ICC, congratulated the Honourable Finance Minister for presenting a "very strategic" Budget. He said it lays out both short-term and long-term plans, with the long-term vision focused on building national and industrial capacity for self-reliance (Aatmanirbhar Bharat).
In the short term, he highlighted measures aimed at improving access to finance and equity, risk coverage, ease of doing business, simplification of regulations, decriminalisation of laws, and a more user-friendly customs regime. The Budget's focus on reducing import dependence in key sectors, strengthening skills, agriculture, AI technology and infrastructure, and maintaining fiscal deficit targets, he said, creates a predictable and dependable environment for investors.
"I would describe this as a very balanced and strategically thought-out Budget that supports both immediate economic needs and long-term nation building," Dr. Singh concluded.
Mr Girish Tanti, Co-founder & Vice Chairman - Suzlon Group and Chairman of Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA), says "Budget 2026 is a testament to our nation's resilience and commitment to growth, even amidst global uncertainty. With a significant increase in capital expenditure to ₹12 lakh crore and energy spending to ₹1 lakh crore, we're laying the foundation for a sustainable future. Focus on renewable energy growth, grid modernization, and energy security will accelerate India's energy transition. Atmanirbhar Bharat push with rationalizing policies, and incentivizing innovation through PLI and tax benefits for domestics R&D and manufacturing. Bond market reforms will further boost our economic momentum. This inclusive and comprehensive budget ensures we're on course for continued growth and prosperity"
"The Union Budget 2026 is expected to reinforce the government's infrastructure-first approach under the vision of Viksit Bharat, with a proposed capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore. By strengthening connectivity, urban mobility, and sustainable transport across Tier II and Tier III cities, the Budget also aims to boost initiatives such as the deployment of 4,000 electric buses in the Eastern region. Chartered Speed is deploying 110 electric buses in Odisha and Meghalaya, with an intent to contributing to safer, cleaner, and more efficient public transport networks."
— Mr. Sanyam Gandhi, Whole-time Director, Chartered Speed limited.
