Mr. Sasikumar Kallanai, Co-founder & CEO, TenderCuts
The Union Budget’s emphasis on productivity-led growth across agriculture and allied sectors, especially fisheries and animal husbandry, is a constructive step towards strengthening India’s domestic food and protein ecosystem.
Initiatives around better utilisation of inland reservoirs, support for Fish FPOs and women-led groups, loan-linked capital subsidy for veterinary and para-veterinary infrastructure can improve supply consistency, traceability, and income stability at the source. The integration of AgriStack with AI-led dissemination of agricultural practices and stronger market linkages further strengthens this ecosystem.
For TenderCuts, these measures are aligned with the need to build a modern, sustainable, and inclusive meat and seafood supply chain that delivers quality to customers consistently.
Paul Alukkas, Managing Director, Jos Alukkas says:
“The Union Budget 2026–27 reinforces confidence in the economy by backing growth of around 7% while staying on a fiscal consolidation path, with the deficit targeted to decline from 4.8% in FY25 to 4.4% in FY26. This focus on macroeconomic stability is reassuring for households and businesses. Measures such as TDS rationalisation and lower TCS on education expenses abroad should boost disposable incomes and discretionary spending and this is a welcome measure. The continued emphasis on MSMEs, credit availability and formalisation is expected to support jewellers, particularly in tier-2, tier-3 and rural markets.”
Nemin Vora, Chief Executive Officer, Odysse Electric
“We laud 6 steps government’s focus on the local manufacturing ecosystem for assisting the mobility ecosystem and empowering the middle-class purchasing power. It’s encouraging to see the government’s effort in promoting green mobility by incentivizing local EV component manufacturing.
With more disposable income in the hands of consumers—particularly the middle class—purchasing power is set to rise, which will naturally accelerate the shift toward sustainable mobility.
With enhanced credit guarantee cover for MSMEs and startups, particularly in focus sectors crucial for Atmanirbhar Bharat, the budget lays a strong foundation for sustained growth and economic resilience.”
Vivek Singh, CEO, Home Credit India
Home Credit India welcomes Budget 2026’s measures to strengthen access to risk capital for small businesses. This year’s budget is expected to create new job opportunities by strengthening access to growth and risk capital for small businesses and micro-enterprises. The introduction of Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund together with the Rs 2,000 crore micro-enterprise risk capital top-up, will create additional financial resources at the community level which will allow families and business owners to maintain their purchases of durable goods and transportation and residential requirements. The new regulations enable non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) which provide financing for two-wheeler purchases and consumer durable products and loan-against-property services to achieve more stable and responsible customer spending patterns.
The public capital expenditure will increase from its current level to Rs 11 lakh crore in FY26 and the government plans to spend Rs 12.2 lakh crore in FY27 which will create job opportunities and sustain income levels for workers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where people are starting to spend more money. With FY27 net borrowing at Rs 15.44 lakh crore, Budget 2026 supports NBFCs in financing SMEs, two-wheelers, consumer durables, and Loan Against Property (LAP) customers. The new infrastructure and better regional connections will create increased demand throughout these markets.
In addition, modular skilling initiatives and MSME compliance support through Corporate Mitras will strengthen income continuity and borrower resilience. Together, these measures are expected to encourage sustained, need-based consumption rather than short-term spending cycles.
– Vivek Singh, CEO, Home Credit India
Manoj Tulsian, CEO & Joint Managing Director, Greenply Industries Ltd.
Quote:
“The Union Budget 2026 presents a clear and growth-oriented vision for India’s economy, with a strong focus on manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation. The Government’s continued reform momentum, driven by over 350 reforms announced since Independence Day 2025, including GST simplification, labour reforms and reduced compliance will significantly ease operations for organized manufacturers, enabling faster expansion, better efficiency and improved formalization across sectors like wood panels and interior infrastructure.
Rise in public capex and building focus on infrastructure are expected to drive housing and realty activity in tier II and tier III cities, where the demand for quality, branded interior solutions is increasing at a faster pace. This will in turn directly help the homebuyer due to better access to well-finished, durable and safe interiors as well as enhanced demand for plywood, MDF and related products.
The emphasis on strengthening MSMEs and reviving traditional industrial clusters is particularly encouraging for the wood-based industry, which depends on a large network of carpenters, fabricators and small processing units. Improved access to finance, technology and compliance support will help upgrade skills, enhance productivity and create more stable livelihoods for skilled and semi-skilled workers across non-metro regions.
At the same time, the Government’s commitment to fiscal discipline, reflected in a gradual reduction in fiscal deficit and debt levels, provides long-term economic stability. At Greenply Industries, this balanced approach between growth and financial discipline gives us the confidence to continue investing in capacity expansion, sustainable manufacturing practices and skill development, while contributing meaningfully to India’s housing growth and a more responsible interior infrastructure ecosystem.”
Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development of Corporation Ltd. (NUCFDC)
Union Budget 2026 signals continuity in India’s long-term development vision. The structural reforms reinforce India’s position as a dependable economic leader and show a strong commitment of Government towards improving global competitiveness.
Cooperative-focused tax measures will strengthen federated cooperatives. Deductions for member-produced cattle feed and cotton seed, along with exemptions on inter-cooperative dividends, will deepen income linkages. It will improve capital circulation and boost balance sheet efficiency. The time-bound dividend exemption for national cooperative federations will help them mobilise and reinvest more capital into member institutions.
The proposed high-level committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat is a timely macro-financial step. India is moving towards more credit- and investment-led growth, and the banking system must be future-ready. A structural review can improve capital deployment, strengthen risk monitoring, and address emerging balance sheet pressures. This will make credit expansion safer, more productive, and inclusive, while maintaining financial stability and customer confidence.
MSME-focused measures provide a strong push to the sector. The 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund and risk-capital support will strengthen their long-term bankability. The proposed ‘Corporate Mitras’ network is a smart step. Affordable compliance support can speed up MSME formalisation, improve financial discipline, and raise enterprise quality.
SHE-Marts for rural women-led enterprises support sustainable empowerment. These community-owned retail hubs can strengthen local supply chains, promote entrepreneurship, and build long-term social and financial resilience.
The digital infrastructure push is a welcome move. A tax holiday until 2047 for foreign cloud players using Indian data centres, along with a 15% safe harbour for related entities, strategically anchors India as a global digital infrastructure hub. It will boost investment and create high-skilled jobs in the country. Also, it will tangentially help the financial ecosystem to accelerate digitisation with cost-effective tech infrastructure.
Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development of Corporation Ltd. (NUCFDC)
Mr. Jaishankar Natarajan, Chief Executive Officer and Director, India Autism Center
“The Union Budget 2026 marks a meaningful shift in how India is beginning to view mental health and neuroscience, particularly through the announcement of a second NIMHANS in North India. By expanding advanced neuroscience research, mental health education, and clinical services, the Budget acknowledges that mental health infrastructure must grow in depth, scale, and expertise to meet rising needs. Equally important is the recognition that care cannot remain confined to institutions or emergency settings alone. For individuals under spectrum, care does not end at emergency intervention it is lifelong, specialised, and deeply human, closely aligning with our mission at the India Autism Center. Through our Caregiver Outreach Programme to train 300 specialised caregivers for Samavesh, our purpose-built residential care facility, we are addressing an invisible crisis that has long remained under-acknowledged: the shortage of trained, autism-specific caregivers. The Budget’s emphasis on building both institutional capacity and a skilled caregiving workforce is an important step towards moving mental health and neurodevelopmental care from the margins to the mainstream, where continuity, empathy, and expertise are treated as essentials, not afterthoughts.”
Mr. Sharan Bansal, Director, Skipper Limited
“The Union Budget 2026 gives renewed focus on the government having capital-led growth and developing long-term national infrastructure. The Budget raises capital expenditure to ₹12.2 trillion for FY2026-27, up from ₹11.2 trillion in the previous year, reinforcing infrastructure investment as a key growth driver. The unambiguous difference between revenue spending and capital expenditure, as well as long-term commitments to the development of assets, gives infrastructure developers and manufacturers long-term visibility.
The Budget focuses on the capital formation, monitoring of outcomes and medium-term fiscal planning, which provides a stable policy environment in the energy transition in India. The fiscal deficit is targeted at 4.3 % of GDP for FY2026-27, underscoring continued fiscal stability alongside investment push. The emphasis to productive capital spending and accountability will facilitate grid modernisation, a field that is well aligned with the ability of Skipper to supply power equipment, grid enabling systems and advanced engineering solutions.”
Vikram Aditya Sahoo, Director – Research and Innovation, SAI International Education Group
“The Union Budget 2026-27 is a strong and welcome signal that research and innovation are at the heart of India’s future growth and leadership. The continued support for the Anusandhan National Research Fund, and the emphasis on industry-academia collaboration, signal a shift towards a research environment where knowledge development is more closely attuned to application. This is essential to ensure that research leads to scalable solutions, technological autonomy, and economic outcomes. The emphasis on medical and health research is especially important. A countrywide biopharma clinical trials network, together with the creation of regional medical hubs that integrate education, research, and healthcare, can help consolidate India’s leadership role in the world in healthcare and life sciences. The emphasis on the expansion of AYUSH research, including the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre at Jamnagar and the establishment of new All India Institutes of Ayurveda, is a strong signal that evidence-based integration of traditional knowledge with modern science is a priority.
Another area of equal importance is the investment in basic scientific infrastructure. Upgradation of facilities like the National Large Solar Telescope, National Large Optical-Infrared Telescope, Himalayan Chandra Telescope, and COSMOS-2 Planetarium will promote innovative research, experiential learning, and scientific inquiry. For the education sector, these investments are transformative as they strengthen research-led teaching, expose students to cutting-edge scientific environments, and encourage a culture of inquiry, interdisciplinary learning, and innovation across institutions. The allocation of ₹20,000 crores for carbon capture, utilization, and storage research indicates a commitment to the future of sustainability, and the emphasis on assistive technology R&D indicates how innovation can be used to directly improve accessibility, independence, and quality of life ensuring that education and research remain inclusive, socially relevant, and aligned with national priorities.”
Dr Sunil Shukla, Director General, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII)
The Union Budget 2026 rightly recognises MSMEs as ‘Champion Enterprises’ central to India’s growth, with a strong focus on equity, liquidity and professional support to help them scale sustainably. The emphasis on women-led enterprises through initiatives like SHE-Marts is particularly encouraging, enabling a shift from livelihoods to true enterprise ownership.
The focus on tourism as a local employment generator aligns with EDII’s experience of building sustainable enterprises in the sector, while the education-to-entrepreneurship push signals a timely move from job-seeking to job-creation. Overall, this is a progressive and inclusive Budget that strengthens India’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Dr. K. Anand Kumar, MD, Indian Immunologicals Ltd:
As India moves forward with the INR 10,000 Cr BioPharma Shakti initiative, the Union Budget presented a defining moment to strengthen the country’s position as a global vaccine and biologics manufacturing hub.
India already supplies nearly 60% of the world’s vaccines, and this initiative has the potential to accelerate our transition from being a volume-driven supplier to an innovation-led biopharma leader. Targeted investments in advanced manufacturing infrastructure, high-containment facilities, and indigenous production of key raw materials such as culture media, adjuvants, and single-use systems will significantly improve supply chain resilience.
Overall, the Budget lays a strong foundation for India to evolve from the ‘pharmacy of the world’ to a trusted global hub for affordable vaccines, biologics, and health security.
Dr. Irfan Khan, Chairman of EBG Group, a multi-sector conglomerate, said:
The ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund and the ₹2,000 crore top-up to the Self-Reliant India Fund clearly signal the government’s intent to push MSME growth beyond the metros. Measures such as TReDS reforms, invoice discounting and new credit-guarantee support for MSME receivables will be especially helpful for manufacturers in Tier-II and Tier-III towns, where access to timely working capital remains a major issue.
The introduction of ‘Corporate Mitras’ will ease compliance and accelerate formalisation for small units that are strong in operations but weak in paperwork. Along with the revival of industrial clusters and a sharper focus on emerging cities, this decentralised approach strengthens local manufacturing ecosystems and job creation. Overall, the Budget enables MSMEs in these regions to scale sustainably rather than stay dependent on metro-led growth.
Rahul Attuluri, CEO and Co-Founder of NxtWave Disruptive Technologies
The Union Budget 2026 lays a strong focus on emerging technologies, particularly AI, as core drivers of Viksit Bharat, signalling a shift from degree-centric education to skill-centric employability. Union Budget 2026–27 is truly a ‘Yuva Shakti–driven budget’, with a renewed emphasis on education, skills, creative industries, and employment pathways to fulfil the aspirations of India’s youth. The Finance Minister’s proposal to set up an ‘Education to Employment’ standing committee is a timely and much-needed move. The budget’s push to expand higher education capacity and improve student access through scale, inclusion, and strengthened infrastructure will help create vibrant learning ecosystems and build a future-ready education system for students across Bharat. The focus on assessing AI’s impact on jobs and aligning skills with future demand positions India to build a globally competitive workforce and move closer to a 10% share of the global services economy by 2047.
Mr. Karun Tadepalli, Co-Founder & CEO, byteXL Pvt Ltd
The Union Budget sends a clear and decisive message that India’s growth story will be powered by human capital, deep tech, and employability at scale. The government’s continued emphasis on skill development, AI-driven learning, research, and greater participation of women in STEM reflects a shift from education as access to education as outcomes.
For companies like ours, this marks an important inflection point. The last few years have seen the edtech winter, but with the AI-focused investments and policy support, we are confident this is the path to long-term, impact-led skilling. This Budget reinforces that the future lies not in course delivery alone, but in building integrated partnerships with universities, industry, and government to create job-ready talent. Skilling must move from being transactional to transformational.
We see strong potential in the government’s push to strengthen India’s digital infrastructure, with the long tax holiday for foreign cloud firms to operate through Indian data centres. Expanding domestic data centre capacity and improving access to affordable cloud and compute infrastructure can be a game changer for startups and skilling companies alike.
I believe the real opportunity is to embed industry-aligned curricula within campuses, enable hands-on learning with emerging technologies, and bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world application. I see this Budget as a strong call to action for skilling players to evolve into true talent partners, working closely with institutions and enterprises to deliver measurable career outcomes. With the right execution, India can move beyond being a talent supplier to becoming the world’s most trusted hub for tech-ready, innovation-driven professionals.
Rajiv Chilaka, Founder & CEO, Green Gold Animation, said:
The Finance Minister’s renewed focus on the AVGC sector and structured content creation at both school and college levels is a transformative step for India’s creative economy. By establishing Animation, VFX, Gaming and Comics Content Creator Labs across thousands of educational institutions, the government is building a deep, sustainable talent pipeline aligned with the industry’s projected requirement of nearly 2 million professionals by 2030.
What is particularly encouraging is the strong push this will give to regional content creators, enabling talent beyond metro cities to access world-class tools, training, and production ecosystems. This will accelerate original IP creation in local languages, expand employment opportunities, and fuel India’s cultural exports globally.
These measures not only strengthen skill development but also lay the foundation for India to emerge as a global hub for high-value digital content, gaming, and animation production. For the industry, this is a commercially significant and future-ready policy direction that will unlock long-term growth, innovation, and global competitiveness.
Murty LVLN, CEO, Dvara KGFS –
The 2026–27 Budget underscores the importance of strengthening grassroots incomes as a foundation for India’s growth. Continued focus on farmers, weavers and small enterprises reflects recognition that stable household incomes and access to formal finance are essential for sustaining rural demand. Initiatives such as the Bharat Vistaar AI platform and the rollout of AgriStack can improve productivity, reduce information gaps and enable more data-backed lending. Investments in rural infrastructure, agriculture-linked value chains, and targeted support for high-value crops, livestock and natural farming further expand livelihood opportunities.
From a financial sector perspective, the Budget signals intent rather than immediate relief. Measures such as the ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, expanded use of TReDS, higher RIDF allocations and the proposed Banking for Viksit Bharat committee indicate a willingness to strengthen rural credit delivery. Sustained and well-calibrated policy support will be critical for institutions like Dvara KGFS to continue providing responsible, last-mile financial solutions.
Mr. Chandan Churiwal, Chief Executive officer and Whole Time Director at Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise Ltd (ACRE).
A mature and detail-oriented budget – maintains continuity with limited tinkering on tax rates, fiscally prudent as fiscal deficit maintained at 4.3% despite global headwinds and promotes multiple incremental measures for various sectors such as textile, animal husbandry, tourism etc.
High level committee to review banking system to make the same future ready is likely to accelerate industry consolidation. This coupled with proposed framework for increasing liquidity is corporate bonds is likely to strengthen debt markets.