Rahul Shanker, Group CEO, Quest Retail (The Body Shop India)
The Union Budget reflects a clear shift towards building long-term resilience in India’s growth story. The emphasis on infrastructure development, services-led growth, and digital integration directly supports consumer-facing sectors such as beauty and personal care. Investments in manufacturing ecosystems, urban and regional economic clusters, and skills aligned to emerging technologies will strengthen supply chains and improve market access.
For large retail and brand-led businesses, these measures create the right environment to expand responsibly into Tier-2, Tier-3 and rural markets, unlock new consumer demand, and accelerate the creation of globally competitive Indian brands. By supporting consumption and improving ease of doing business across the value chain, the Budget lays the groundwork for inclusive and sustained growth.
Shriti Malhotra, Executive Chairperson of Quest Retail
Budget 2026 moves decisively from welfare to ownership & action on women’s economic empowerment. She-Marts, building on Lakhpati Didi, shifts women from subsistence livelihoods to enterprise ownership by expanding market access and strengthening community-led retail. By aligning skilling, formalisation, and entrepreneurship, the Budget accelerates women’s leadership & empowerment across rural and urban economies and drives inclusive growth.
Mohit Goyal, Co Founder & Director, Swiss Beauty
The Union Budget 2026–27 meaningfully strengthens India’s retail and FMCG operating ecosystem by addressing critical growth enablers such as capital access, liquidity and ease of compliance. The ₹10,000 crore MSME and SME Growth Funds, along with enhanced liquidity through TReDS and credit guarantees, will significantly strengthen the backbone of customer-facing industries like beauty and personal care by improving working-capital efficiency and vendor resilience. For Swiss Beauty, which sources high-grade ingredients globally and adheres to stringent BIS-led quality and safety standards, the reduction of the tariff rate on all dutiable goods imported for personal use from 20% to 10%, alongside a more efficient trade and logistics environment, will support cost efficiencies, supply-chain flexibility, consistency, innovation and scalable growth. The Budget’s focus on infrastructure, services, skills, and consumption-led expansion across Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets lays a strong foundation for building globally competitive Indian beauty brands while enabling sustainable and inclusive growth.