Union Budget 2026–27: Investing in Institutions, Infrastructure and India’s Future

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for FY 2026–27 on February 1, 2026, against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty, supply chain realignments, and shifting investment flows. The Budget reinforces India’s commitment to sustained growth, fiscal discipline and long-term competitiveness.

While presenting the Budget, the Finance Minister stated that the government aims to “transform aspiration into achievement and potential into performance.” She described this year’s Budget as a Yuva Shakti driven Budget, focused on strengthening domestic manufacturing, scaling high-growth services, and reinforcing infrastructure as the key engines of long-term expansion.

Reflecting on India’s economic journey, she added, “We have pursued far-reaching structural reforms, fiscal prudence and monetary stability whilst maintaining a strong thrust on public investment. Keeping atmanirbharta as a lodestar, we have built domestic manufacturing capacity, energy security and reduced critical import dependencies.” She further emphasised, “We have ensured that citizens must benefit from every action of the Government, undertaking reforms to support employment generation, agricultural productivity, household purchasing power and universal services to people.”

At its core, the Union Budget 2026–27 underscores regulatory certainty, ease of doing business, and targeted reforms designed to attract long-term capital while deepening India’s integration with global markets.

Budget Theme: Yuva Shakti, Kartavya, and Investment-Led Development

The Budget pivots on converting India’s demographic dividend into productive capacity through skilling, enterprise creation, and employment generation. It is guided by three Kartavya: sustaining growth amid global volatility, strengthening human and institutional capacity, and ensuring equitable access to opportunity across regions and sectors.

A strong investment-led development approach runs through the Budget with clear emphasis on manufacturing scale-up, MSME strengthening, and services-led growth, supported by continued public capital expenditure and infrastructure expansion in Tier II and Tier III cities.