NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026-2027 in Parliament.

The Finance Minister said, as this is the first Budget prepared in Kartavya Bhawan, it is inspired by 3 kartavyas:

First kartavya is to accelerate and sustain economic growth, by enhancing productivity and competitiveness, and building resilience to volatile global dynamics.

Second kartavya is to fulfil aspirations of  people and build their capacity, making them strong partners in India’s path to prosperity

Third kartavya, aligned with vision of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, is to ensure that every family, community, region and sector has access to resources, amenities and opportunities for meaningful participation.

Presenting the Yuva Shakti-driven Budget which emphasizes on Government’s ‘Sankalp’ to focus on poor, underprivileged and the disadvantaged, the Finance Minister said, India will continue to take confident steps towards Viksit Bharat, balancing ambition with inclusion. As a growing economy with expanding trade and capital needs, India must also remain deeply integrated with global markets, exporting more and attracting stable long-term investment.

She also mentioned that the country is facing an external environment in which trade and multilateralism are imperilled and access to resources and supply chains are disrupted. New technologies are transforming production systems while sharply increasing demands on water, energy and critical minerals.

The Finance Minister said that after the Prime Minister’s announcement on Independence Day in 2025, over 350 reforms have been rolled out. These include GST simplification, notification of Labour Codes, and rationalisation of mandatory Quality Control Orders. High Level Committees have been formed and in parallel, the Central Government is working with the State Governments on deregulation and reducing compliance requirements.

Under the first kartavya to accelerate and sustain economic growth, interventions were proposed in six areas:

Scaling up manufacturing in 7 strategic and frontier sectors;

Rejuvenating legacy industrial sectors;

Creating “Champion MSMEs”;

Delivering a powerful push to Infrastructure;

Ensuring long-term energy security and stability; and

Developing City Economic Regions

To develop India as a global Biopharma manufacturing hub, the Biopharma SHAKTI with an outlay of Rs.  10,000 crores to build the ecosystem for domestic production of biologics and biosimilars will be set up  over the next 5 years. The Strategy will include a Biopharma-focused network with 3 new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and upgrading 7 existing ones. It will also create a network of over 1000 accredited India Clinical Trials sites. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation will be strengthened to meet global standards and approval timeframes through a dedicated scientific review cadre and specialists.

For the labour-intensive Textile Sector, an Integrated Programme with 5 sub-parts was proposed: The National Fibre Scheme for self-reliance in natural fibres such as silk, wool and jute, man-made fibres, and new-age fibres;  Textile Expansion and Employment Scheme to modernise traditional clusters with capital support for machinery, technology upgradation and common testing and certification centres; A National Handloom and Handicraft programme to integrate and strengthen existing schemes and ensure targeted support for weavers and artisans; Tex-Eco Initiative to promote globally competitive and sustainable textiles and apparels; Samarth 2.0 to modernize and upgrade the textile skilling ecosystem through collaboration with industry and academic institutions.

Recognising MSMEs as a vital engine of growth, a dedicated Rs. 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund was proposed to create future Champions, incentivizing enterprises based on select criteria.

The Finance Minister said, Public capex has increased manifold from Rs. 2 lakh crore in FY2014-15 to an allocation of Rs. 11.2 lakh crore in BE 2025-26. In FY2026-27, she proposed to increase it to Rs. 12.2 lakh crore to continue the momentum.

To promote environmentally sustainable movement of cargo, the Finance Minister proposed new Dedicated Freight Corridors connecting Dankuni in the East, to Surat in the West; b) operationalise 20 new National Waterways (NW) over next 5 years, starting with NW-5 in Odisha to connect mineral rich areas of Talcher and Angul and industrial centres like Kalinga Nagar to the Ports of Paradeep and Dhamra. Training Institutes will be set up as Regional Centres of Excellence for development of the required manpower.

The Budget aims to further amplify the potential of cities to deliver the economic power of agglomerations by mapping city economic regions (CER), based on their specific growth drivers. An allocation of Rs.  5000 crore per CER over 5 years is proposed for implementing their plans through a challenge mode with a reform-cum-results based financing mechanism.

To promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems, seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities will be developed as ‘growth connectors’, namely i) Mumbai-Pune, ii) Pune-Hyderabad, iii) Hyderabad-Bengaluru, iv) Hyderabad-Chennai, v) Chennai-Bengaluru, vi) Delhi-Varanasi, vii) Varanasi-Siliguri.

The Finance Minister said that second kartavya is to fulfil aspirations and build capacity. Close to 25 crore individuals have come out of multidimensional poverty through a decade of Government’s sustained and reform-oriented efforts.

To promote India as a hub for medical tourism services, the Finance Minister proposed a Scheme to support States in establishing five Regional Medical Hubs, in partnership with the private sector. These Hubs will serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational and research facilities. They will have AYUSH Centres, Medical Value Tourism Facilitation Centres and infrastructure for diagnostics, post-care and rehabilitation. These Hubs will provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals including doctors and AHPs.

To scale up availability of veterinary professionals by more than 20,000, a loan-linked capital subsidy was proposed to support scheme for establishment of veterinary and para vet colleges, veterinary hospitals, diagnostic laboratories and breeding facilities in the private sector.

India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is a growing industry, projected to require 2 million professionals by 2030. The Finance Minister proposed to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai in setting up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges.

In Higher Education STEM institutions, prolonged hours of study and laboratory work pose some challenges for girl students. Through VGF/capital support, 1 girls hostel will be established in every district.

The Finance Minister proposed to set up a National Institute of Hospitality by upgrading the existing National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology. It will function as a bridge between academia, industry and the Government. She further proposed a pilot scheme for upskilling 10,000 guides in 20 tourist sites through a standardized, high-quality 12-week training course in hybrid mode, in collaboration with an Indian Institute of Management.

Taking forward the systematic nurturing of sports talent which is set in motion through the Khelo India programme, the Finance Minister proposed to launch a Khelo India Mission to transform the Sports sector over the next decade. The Mission will facilitate: a) An integrated talent development pathway, supported by training centres b) systematic development of coaches and support staff; c) integration of sports science and technology; d) competitions and leagues to promote sports culture and provide platforms; and, e) development of sports infrastructure for training and competition.

The Finance Minister said that the Budget’s third kartavya aligns with the vision of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas towards a Viksit Bharat. This requires targeted efforts for increasing farmer incomes, empowering Divyangjan, empowering the vulnerable to access mental health and trauma care, focus on the Purvodaya States and the North-East Region to accelerate development and employment opportunities.

The Finance Minister proposed Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources), a multilingual AI tool that shall integrate the AgriStack portals and the ICAR package on agricultural practices with AI systems. This will enhance farm productivity, enable better decisions for farmers and reduce risk by providing customised advisory support.

Building on the success of the Lakhpati Didi Programme, Self-Help Entrepreneur (SHE) Marts will be set up as community-owned retail outlets within the cluster level federations through enhanced and innovative financing instruments.

Reaffirming the commitment to Mental Health and Trauma Care, the Finance Minister announced to setup a NIMHANS-2 and also upgrade National Mental Health Institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur as Regional Apex Institutions.

She further proposed the development of an integrated East Coast Industrial Corridor with a well-connected node at Durgapur, creation of 5 tourism destinations in the 5 Purvodaya States, and the provision of 4,000 e-buses. She also proposed to launch a Scheme for Development of Buddhist Circuits in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. The Scheme will cover preservation of temples and monasteries, pilgrimage interpretation centers, connectivity and pilgrim amenities.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated to be 55.6 percent of GDP in BE 2026-27, compared to 56.1 percent of GDP in RE 2025-26. A declining debt-to-GDP ratio will gradually free up resources for priority sector expenditure by reducing the outgo on interest payments. In RE 2025-26, the fiscal deficit has been estimated at par with BE of 2025-26 at 4.4 percent of GDP. In line with the new fiscal prudence path of debt consolidation, the fiscal deficit in BE 2026-27 is estimated to be 4.3 percent of GDP.

The Revised Estimates of the non-debt receipts are Rs. 34 lakh crore of which the Centre’s net tax receipts are Rs. 26.7 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs. 49.6 lakh crore, of which the capital expenditure is about Rs. 11 lakh crore.