Budget Powers Viksit Bharat with Jobs, Energy, And Innovation Focus
There were increased expectations from Union Budget 2025-26 relating to structure on the momentum of in 2015’s 9 budget concerns – and it has delivered.
With India marching towards realising the Viksit Bharat vision, this budget takes decisive actions for high-impact development.
The Economic Survey’s quote of 6.4% real GDP growth and retail inflation softening from 5.4% in FY24 to 4.9% in FY25 enhances India’s position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
The budget plan for the coming fiscal has capitalised on prudent financial management and strengthens the 4 key pillars of India’s financial resilience – jobs, energy security, manufacturing, and innovation.
India needs to produce 7.85 million non-agricultural jobs annually up until 2030 – and this budget plan steps up. It has enhanced workforce capabilities through the launch of 5 National Centres of Excellence for Skilling and intends to align training with “Make for India, Make for the World” manufacturing requirements. Additionally, an expansion of capacity in the IITs will accommodate 6,500 more students, ensuring a steady pipeline of technical talent. It also recognises the role of micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) in generating work. The enhancement of credit assurances for micro and small enterprises from 5 crore to 10 crore, unlocks an additional 1.5 lakh crore in loans over 5 years. This, paired with customised credit cards for micro business with a 5 lakh limitation, will enhance capital gain access to for little businesses. While these procedures are commendable, the scaling of industry-academia partnership as well as fast-tracking employment training will be essential to making sure sustained job creation.
India remains highly depending on Chinese imports for solar modules, electric car (EV) batteries, and key electronic parts, exposing the sector to geopolitical risks and trade barriers. This spending plan takes this challenge head-on. It designates 81,174 crore to the energy sector, a substantial boost from the 63,403 crore in the existing financial, signalling a significant push towards strengthening supply chains and decreasing import reliance. The exemptions for 35 additional capital goods needed for EV battery manufacturing contributes to this. The decrease of import responsibility on solar batteries from 25% to 20% and referall.us solar modules from 40% to 20% alleviates expenses for designers while India scales up domestic production capacity. The allowance to the ministry of new and eco-friendly energy (MNRE) has actually increased 53% to 26,549 crore, with the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana seeing an 80% jump to 20,000 crore. These steps provide the decisive push, however to truly accomplish our environment objectives, we must also speed up financial investments in battery recycling, critical mineral extraction, and strategic supply chain combination.
With capital expense approximated at 4.3% of GDP, the highest it has been for the past 10 years, this spending plan lays the for India’s production revival. Initiatives such as the National Manufacturing Mission will provide making it possible for policy assistance for small, medium, and big markets and will further strengthen the Make-in-India vision by strengthening domestic worth chains. Infrastructure stays a traffic jam for producers. The budget addresses this with massive financial investments in logistics to lower supply chain costs, which presently stand at 13-14% of GDP, significantly higher than that of many of the established nations (~ 8%). A cornerstone of the Mission is tidy tech production. There are promising steps throughout the value chain. The budget plan presents custom-mades duty exemptions on lithium-ion battery scrap, cobalt, and 12 other important minerals, securing the supply of necessary materials and reinforcing India’s position in international clean-tech value chains.
Despite India’s prospering tech ecosystem, research study and development (R&D) investments remain below 1% of GDP, compared to 2.4% in China and 3.5% in the US. Future jobs will need Industry 4.0 abilities, and India needs to prepare now. This budget plan takes on the space. An excellent start is the government designating 20,000 crore to a private-sector-driven Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) effort. The budget acknowledges the transformative potential of synthetic intelligence (AI) by presenting the PM Research Fellowship, which will provide 10,000 fellowships for technological research study in IITs and IISc with enhanced financial assistance.
This, in addition to a Centre of Excellence for AI and 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools, are positive steps toward a knowledge-driven economy.
