Five Ideas in Union Budget 2026-27 for Viksit Bharat

1 Feb 2026 , 08:09 PM

UNDERSTANDING THE ESSENCE OF VIKSIT BHARAT

The idea of Viksit Bharat is about balancing ambitious growth with inclusion. It is broadly based on four essential themes.

• Macroeconomic stability is the core of long-term sustainable growth. To sustain growth in the longer run, it is essential that the economy and the polity offer stability to the people in terms of growth, regulation, and purchasing power.
• Fiscal discipline is all about cutting your coat according to your cloth. Growth comes at a fiscal cost, but what is important about fiscal discipline is to cut costs that can be dispensed and invest in mission critical items like capex.
• Sustained growth is more important than huge growth that is erratic. In the last few years, India has sustained growth at around 7% because it has the ecosystem to support high levels of growth on a continuous basis.
• Nothing beats moderate inflation as a trigger for long-term growth. Moderate inflation not only boosts the purchasing power of the people at large, but also ensures that the real GDP growth stays at an attractive level.

Let us now look at 5 key measures taken in this budget for sustaining the idea of Viksit Bharat in a balanced, yet aggressive manner.

• REVAMPING THE FINANCIAL SECTOR

The idea of Viksit Bharat is almost impossible without a focus on the financial sector, which is the backbone of any growth economy. The budget has adopted the following measures.

• Setting up a high level committed to take a complete relook at banking reforms from a bottom-up level to make banking more aligned with the needs of the future.
• Making city municipalities resource self-sufficient by incentivizing them to raise money through the issue of municipal bonds.
• The core of the power sector is the financing and the government has now taken up a total restructuring of PFC and REC to make them future ready.
• The foreign exchange management act (FEMA) is now more than 25 years old and it was time for a relook at the legislation. That is being taken up.
• To grow infrastructure, debt markets are at the core and for that we need a strong framework. The budget has introduced marketing making for corporate bonds as well as total return swaps on such bonds.

Let us now turn to infrastructure aspect of Viksit Bharat.

• A BIG BOOST TO THE INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR

Viksit Bharat is about growth and that presupposes a strong infrastructure sector. Here are some interesting announcements on these lines.

• A sharp increase in allocation to capex to ₹12.2 Trillion, higher by more than 15% on a yoy basis. This includes allocation for capex in railways and defence also.
• Government will set up an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund to offer guarantees to lenders to reduce the cost of funds for infrastructure borrowers.
• The idle real estate assets of central PSEs will be recycled and packaged and sold as REIT securities to the markets at large with predictable cash flows to make them attractive.
• The budget has also taken up a massive East-West dedicated freight corridor to ensure rapid transport of goods by rail in a cost-efficient manner.
• Operationalizing 20 new waterways inland as well as set up a ship repair system ecosystem catering to inland waterways.

Let us move to energy stability

• HOW TO ENSURE ENERGY SECURITY AND STABILITY

Energy security and stability are at the core of Viksit Bharat. This includes the following measures.

• Scheme to adopt carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) with an outlay of ₹20,000 crore to begin with.
• Exemption of basic customs duty (BCD) on sodium antimonate for solar glass, capital goods to process critical minerals, and capital goods for manufacture of lithium-ion.
• The budget has also envisaged extension of existing BCD exemption on import of goods needed for nuclear power projects till the year 2035.

Let us now look at the pillar of people driven development.

• BOOSTING THE SOFT PEOPLE INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA

The budget has conceived a sharp growth in investment in basic health and basic education to ensure the quality and readiness of manpower for the challenges ahead. This includes training of care givers for a strong care ecosystem in India. It also includes self-help entrepreneur marts to be set up in community owned retail outlets.

To counter the rising tide of mental health issues and the reluctance to openly talk about it, the budget has also envisaged setting up of NIMHANS 2 and upgrading National Mental Health Institutes at Ranchi and Tezpur. It also includes the establishment of Emergency and Trauma Care centres in district hospitals across India for easier service delivery.

• BOOSTING FARM INCOMES IN INDIA

No story of growth in India is complete unless it percolates to the farmer through increase in farm income. That is one of the key pillars of Viksit Bharat. Among other measures, this includes rejuvenating orchards and high-density cultivation of walnuts and almonds. This also includes loan-linked capital subsidy scheme to support veterinary centres in rural areas. The government has also envisaged a coconut promotion scheme to boost productivity.

The budget has also looked at irrigation infrastructure through the development of over 500 reservoirs and Amrit Sarovars and strengthening the fisheries value chain. The budget also focuses on focused cultivation and post-harvest processing of sandalwood across select locations. The idea is to ensure that farm incomes rise and farmers also have access to other sources of revenues when the crops go through cycles.

Viksit Bharat is about balancing growth with a humane touch.  The budget has actually made Viksit Bharat an underlying theme.

 

Summary Viksit Bharat is not just an idea, but the underlying theme on which the budget has been built. It has many more facets, but we have only covered five of the most critical facets. The idea is to balance growth with a human touch and ensuring last-mile delivery. Many of the projects directed towards Viksit Bharat may appear ambitious at this point of time, but that is a risk the government has to take. The budget has taken that risk, and hopefully Viksit Bharat should convince Indians that reforms are on the right track.