E-Paper
Budget 2026: Clear matrix of cooperation, confidence and self-reliance
This article is authored by Vaishali Nigam Sinha, co-founder and chairperson, sustainability, ReNew.
We are just one month into 2026, kickstarting February, and it already feels like a reset button for India and for the world at large. Despite the backdrop of global uncertainity, geopolitical tensions, tariff wars, disrupted supply chains, India has displayed a growth trajectory of 7%, a perfect example of confidence and discipline in this fractured world, further reflecting a strong concensus on collaboration, with signals loud and clear.
Just last week EU and India concluded a landmark Free Trade Agreement, being referred as the mother of all trade deals eliminating or reducing tariff lines on 80 to 90% goods, with savings of ~ $ 4 billion per year in duties, creating a free-trade zone for about 2 billion people. This was followed by the recent big bang announcement with India and the US striking a long awaited trade deal, slashing tariffs from 50% to 18%, two landmark partnerships within a timeframe of one week.
These partnerships are not only a reflection of India’s credibility and stability but is a big boost for diversification with India-first strategy taking frontseat, reconfiguring global supply chains, reimagining aatmanirbharta and reinforcing our position globally. In fact, this year the Budget 2026 feels like an extension of this global cooperation movement, focusing on building domestic strength, so that we can confidently plug into global opportunities and markets, establishing our role as the new diversification hub.
This budget clearly focused on creating manufacturing depth and value chain resilience across seven strategic sectors including semiconductors, launching Rare Earth Corridors and India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, addressing the gap in the critical minerals supply chain, doubling down on localisation and State-level execution. The budget also focussed on biopharmaceuticals, launching the INR 10,000 crores Biopharma SHAKTI Programme with a focus on building domestic biologics and biosimilars manufacturing, while expanding pharma education capacity.
The government also focussed on energy and net-zero transition enablers. The budget announced a CCUS Scheme with an outlay of ₹20,000 crore to decarbonise our legacy heavy industries, defining policy and capital for India’s net-zero pathways. Additionally, the government has significantly enhanced allocations for solar, battery storage and green hydrogen, followed by an extension of custom duty exemptions for nuclear projects till 2035, and a stronger financing for IREDA and SECI, making sure that we build domestic capabilities both cost-effective and at scale, ensuring the transition is diversified, localised and as real.
As, I reflect on the budget, what really stood out for me is the budget was anchored around our three kartavyas, first, accelerating and sustaining growth; second, fulfilling aspirations of citizens through capacity building, and thirdly ensuring inclusive access to resources for all, a powerful reminder of shared intent and shared responsibility. This year, we also made a powerful transition from mere subsidies to building ”systems approach” across digital, infrastructure, value chains, and financing mechanisms, with three themes standing out strong and clear for me.
Today AI is no longer only taking a frontseat at global events but has transitioned into a growth multiplier for India. The budget not only announced a clear push for cloud infrastructure, data services but also announced long-term tax holidays for foreign companies setting up data centres in India along with a safe harbour regime for data providers to reduce uncertainity and regulatory friction. These announcements will not only enhance the ease of doing business but are expected to catalyse over $ 70 billion investments in data centres, further building on investor confidence. Infact, this surge in data centre’s will not only lead to a massive surge in power demand but will be a boost for renewables and battery energy storage systems which are critical for round-the-clock green power supply, a win-win for the country’s energy strategy.
The government has announced a three-tier approach for the growth of MSMEs starting from equity support with dedicated ₹10,000 crore SME growth fund, to liquidity support through TReDS, and finally professional support through corporate mitras especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. This move not only means capital support, compliance and cash flow certainity for India’s second largest GDP contributor, but is also about deeper localisation and execution capabilities, looking at MSMEs as the future jobs engine.
This budget was not all about innovation but centred around the inclusion lens whether it was Yuva Shakti, or the focus on Farmers and skilling. Infact, the budget kept women at the core, with SHE Marts for women entrepreneurs, empowering more women to become lakhpati didis and girl’s hostel in every district, a welcoming move enhancing safety, accessibility, boosting STEM education, and accelerating our Nari Shakti Vision.
This budget displayed structural stability and discipline, covering a wide range of areas, and a wider ground, and, yet, we always want more. While we did a solid job on bond markets, especially municipal bonds building city-level economic growth and new investment hubs, there was a private capex dilemma across clean technology and other supporting sectors, which witnessed an uneven recovery.
According to recent statistics, India’s clean air push can unlock ₹220 billion in economic gains. It would have been good to see a line or two on our clean air priorities and partnerships, framing clean air as a downpayment for trust, growth and future partnerships, especially in clean energy sector, a vital organ of our current ecosystem.
As we enter 2026 with multi FTAs, India stands tall at the heart of global partnerships and cooperation, clearly improving the global sentiment towards India. As we march further into the year, this budget has set the tone right, strengthening the ”systems approach”, with better times ahead.
This article is authored by Vaishali Nigam Sinha, co-founder and chairperson, sustainability, ReNew.
