Budget scores in a world where stability is a competitive advantage

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group

• Budget 2026 focuses on fiscal discipline while supporting economic growth
• Sustained public investment and capex drive India's growth and infrastructure
• Budget boosts urban development, entrepreneurship, and sunrise industries

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In a world roiled by conflicts and economic uncertainties, India has managed to stand out as a beacon of resilience and growth. That does not, however, make the finance minister’s job of balancing national priorities without compromising economic growth easy. And delivering her ninth Budget, Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman has stayed focused on balance and stability, backing growth while keeping fiscal discipline firmly in place.

Budget 2026 should be viewed in the context of India’s long-term economic goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047.

Holding the line on fiscal discipline

It would have been tempting to pause fiscal consolidation given rising uncertainties in global trade flows and the unpredictability of geoeconomics. But the government chose to not abandon fiscal discipline, bolstering India’s credibility and attractiveness as a dependable economy.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is reducing as anticipated and the fiscal deficit is hugging the glide path set in the wake of the pandemic.

Fiscal consolidation has gone hand-in-hand with reforms. The budget has stayed on the path of reducing compliances and streamlining rules and regulations. The government has successfully created institutional mechanisms which have shifted reforms from being episodic to continuous.

Public investment has been a driver of growth

More importantly, fiscal consolidation is happening without compromising capital expenditure. In fact, sustained capex by the central government in the post-pandemic years has kept the economic engine chugging at a steady pace and, as private capex joins in, growth is bound to accelerate. Capital will flow to building freight corridors and waterways. High-speed trains connecting key cities are not merely showpieces. They act as connectivity accelerators and growth multipliers.

Focus on urban India makes sense

A highlight of the budget is the focus on improving urban spaces, especially City Economic Regions. Any modern economy requires vibrant cities to act as economic engines. India’s metropolitan cities have grown so fast and so big in the past couple of decades that they appear to be bursting at the seams. It is now time to focus on Tier II and Tier III centres to expand economic activity and spread the fruits of growth and development farther. That is precisely what this budget has done.

India is also a nation brimming with entrepreneurial energy. The budget has several measures that may seem small but build on past efforts to go a long way in harnessing the energy of young entrepreneurs for nation building. The efforts to revitalize manufacturing in seven strategic and frontier segments as well as support key services sectors such as tourism, would help in large-scale employment generation. Creating champion MSMEs will not only beef up the middle segment of Indian manufacturing, it will also broaden capabilities and skillsets, an essential requirement for a competitive industrial nation.

While the finance minister has sought to back up traditional industries–big and small–with easy finance, lower compliance and professional support, she has also given sunrise industries due attention. Higher outlays and incentives for the semiconductor, critical minerals and new energy sectors will entrench India in global value chains. She has also created a bouquet of long-term fiscal incentives to make India a hub of data processing and advanced pharmaceuticals as well as an innovator in industrial tooling.

To sum up, the budget will strengthen the foundations on which India is hoping to build a strong resilient economy. And it sets the terms for sustained high economic growth in a world where stability become the ultimate competitive advantage.