1. Ranjith Mukundan, CEO and Co-Founder, Stellapps Technologies
India is the world's largest producer of milk, yet our share in global dairy exports remains disproportionately low. As we approach the Union Budget, the opportunity is to convert scale into value by strengthening the dairy value chain from farm to market. With over 80 million smallholder dairy farmers, greater emphasis on agri-tech adoption, digital dairy procurement, and robust cold-chain infrastructure is essential to improve productivity, milk quality, and consistency. A clear push towards value-added dairy products can help India move beyond liquid milk to export-ready formats that meet global standards for safety, nutrition, and traceability. This shift will enable farmers to scale productivity and herd size, improve quality and cost competitiveness, and position India as a credible supplier of value-added dairy products in international markets.
2. Sparsh Sachar, Director and Business Head, FMCG, Nutrica
Budget 2026 has a real opportunity to tackle one of India's most persistent food vulnerabilities: our dependence on imported edible oils. We are hoping to see a sharper push on oilseed productivity and procurement, stronger agri-credit and climate-resilient farm infrastructure, and a more predictable import-duty framework that protects farmers without whiplashing consumers.
Beyond staples, the next wave of growth in food will be nutrition-led. Incentives that strengthen food processing, modern storage, and value-added categories like honey and peanut butter can help build healthier choices at scale while creating better realisations for farmers.
3. Nikita Kumavat, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Brandworks Technologies
Electronics prices are under pressure globally due to rising costs of critical components such as semiconductors and memory chips, driven by AI-led demand and ongoing supply-chain constraints, rather than any direct consumer-level taxation. These pressures are being felt across the industry.
Budget 2026 signals a clear shift toward strengthening India's electronics manufacturing ecosystem, with an emphasis on long-term value creation rather than short-term price interventions. Selective policy and duty measures aimed at encouraging local manufacturing may have a near-term cost impact, but they are essential for reducing import dependence and improving resilience.
The next phase of India's electronics growth lies in moving beyond assembly to integrated design, engineering, and scalable production.
4. Ranga Reddy, CEO, Maveric Systems
I believe the upcoming Budget can play a crucial role in shaping the next phase of growth for Indian banks. Demand for loans remains strong, but banks are becoming more careful about how they manage money and risk. As they go increasingly digital and adopt AI, their operations are becoming more complex and harder to manage.
The Budget should support stable funding and smoother flow of credit to keep lending healthy. At the same time, encouragement for technology, digital systems and the responsible use of AI is equally important. Clear and consistent policies can help banks grow faster while staying reliable, transparent and focused on delivering better outcomes for customers.
"As we look ahead to Budget 2026, India has a real opportunity to move from broad AI skilling to outcome-driven talent transformation. India already accounts for nearly 16% of the global AI talent pool, yet multiple industry reports show that fewer than 25% of graduates are job-ready for advanced digital and AI roles. This gap is not about intent or enrolments, but about real-world deployment and exposure.
With AI expected to add over USD 450 billion to India's GDP by 2030, the Budget must prioritize tighter industry, academia integration, experiential learning, and incentives for enterprises to invest in AI adoption alongside workforce training. Policies that support AI infrastructure, applied research, and structured apprenticeship-style programs can significantly improve employability outcomes. A future-ready Budget should view AI, education, and workforce transformation as a single continuum. Aligning higher education reform, skilling incentives, and enterprise adoption will be critical to ensuring India not only trains talent at scale, but also converts it into productive jobs and global competitiveness." -Raghav Gupta, CEO, Futurense.
"The Government of India's vision to 'Make AI in India' and 'Make AI Work for India' signals a clear ambition to position the country as a serious global AI creator. Recent budgetary emphasis under MeitY on compute infrastructure, semiconductors, and AI talent is also an important step towards building this foundation.
However, critical structural gaps continue to constrain progress. High GPU costs, limited domestic compute capacity with India accounting for under 2 percent of global data centre capacity, the absence of scalable indigenous large language models trained on diverse Indian datasets, and gaps in advanced applied AI research and engineering talent remain key bottlenecks.
Going forward, budget policy must move decisively from intent to execution. This includes dedicated funding and policy support for language-first AI and Indian LLMs, clear frameworks for data dignity and consent-driven datasets, and targeted incentives to accelerate applied AI adoption across sectors such as BFSI, D2C, e-commerce, and governance. Equally critical is treating core AI infrastructure, such as compute and data platforms as digital public goods backed by sustained public investment, rather than relying solely on private capital to drive national AI capability."-Nakul Kundra, Co-Founder, Devnagri AI.
Sandiip Bhammer, Founder and Managing Partner, Green Frontier Capital-
As India enters the next phase of its energy transition, Budget FY27 must focus on enabling patient, domestic capital for cli
Amate and renewable innovation. While solar and wind have scaled well, the next wave of grid-scale storage, transmission modernisation, green hydrogen, and climate-tech platforms requires long-term risk capital that traditional financing alone cannot provide.
SEBI-regulated AIFs can play a pivotal role in channeling domestic institutional and private capital into these emerging segments. Enabling greater participation from insurance and pension funds, along with structured blended-finance mechanisms, can significantly accelerate capital deployment.
India's renewable ambition will be realised not just by adding capacity, but by building financeable, resilient ecosystems. Budget FY27 is an opportunity for the government to align public policy with private climate capital to drive scalable, investable outcomes.
Rishabh Goel, Founder and CEO, Credgenics-
"As India's credit ecosystem expands, timely and predictable debt recovery is critical for financial stability. With retail credit surging at high double-digits, delinquencies in unsecured and small-ticket loans are inevitably rising, which strains the lenders and threatens sustainable credit penetration. In the upcoming Union Budget 2026, we expect focused reforms to streamline DRT and SARFAESI processes, reduce procedural delays, and align recovery laws with the evolving credit landscape. Equally important for India's lending ecosystem is the systemic push for adoption of AI and data-driven recovery platforms, simplified compliance frameworks, and targeted fiscal incentives. Strengthening out-of-court resolutions for litigations, digitising recovery workflows, and empowering regulated recovery agencies will help lenders improve recoveries, reduce NPAs, and extend credit more confidently to MSMEs and retail borrowers."
“Markets are watching closely as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares her 9th consecutive Budget, with high-probability expectations shaping both macro and sectoral sentiment. Income tax relief, a capex surge of ₹11.5–12 lakh crore, and a fiscal deficit target of 4.4% are expected to support growth. At a sector level, the focus is on GST relief for FMCG, continued support for semiconductors under ISM 2.0, and momentum around green finance. Rules for uniform capital gains and a clearer treatment of crypto and foreign income remain less certain, but could be meaningful if addressed. Early market moves are likely to be led by FMCG and Realty, with Nifty expected to track key consumption and capex signals. From a market-structure standpoint, confirmation of Sunday trading remains an additional variable if the Budget is tabled on February 1”- By Satinder Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of EQBAC.
Dr Geetanjali Chopra, Founder and President, Wishes & Blessings NGO said "As the Union Budget approaches, we expect policies that strengthen India's ecosystem of giving. Clearer and more beneficial tax incentives for donors, along with simpler and more transparent compliance rules for NGOs. Ambiguity around what counts as tax-eligible donations often creates unnecessary challenges for both donors and civil society organisations. In addition, predictable CSR partnerships, greater regulatory clarity and exemption of NGOs from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would help organisations plan better and scale their impact. We hope the Budget recognises NGOs as true partners in nation-building—where policy supports purpose and social impact becomes a national priority."
"As we approach Union Budget 2026, India's MSME - fintech opportunity depends on one key outcome: improving compliance-grade financial data and reducing the cost of credit at scale. While initiatives like Startup India, SIDBI's Fund of Funds and Account Aggregator rails are directionally right, MSME lending still faces bottlenecks in data reliability and frictionless underwriting.
Budget 2026 should incentivise MSMEs to adopt structured, verified digital bookkeeping so credible data is directly rewarded with better pricing and faster access to credit. At the same time, targeted support for fintech security and compliance is essential to strengthen trust and systemic resilience. If India wants fintech to truly deliver for MSMEs, credible data, secure platforms and DPI-led innovation must be met with clear incentives and predictable regulatory pathways." - By Cheruku Srikanth, CEO & Founder, Digital CFO.
