Budget Powers Viksit Bharat with Jobs, Energy, And Innovation Focus

There were increased expectations from Union Budget 2025-26 concerning structure on the momentum of last year’s nine budget priorities – and it has actually delivered. With India marching towards understanding the Viksit Bharat vision, this budget takes decisive steps for high-impact development. The Economic Survey’s estimate of 6.4% genuine GDP growth and retail inflation softening from 5.4% in FY24 to 4.9% in FY25 reinforces India’s position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The spending plan for the coming financial has capitalised on prudent fiscal management and reinforces the four crucial pillars of India’s financial resilience – jobs, energy security, manufacturing, and innovation.

India needs to 7.85 million non-agricultural jobs yearly till 2030 – and this budget plan steps up. It has boosted labor force capabilities through the launch of five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling and intends to align training with “Produce India, Make for the World” manufacturing needs. Additionally, a growth of capability in the IITs will accommodate 6,500 more trainees, making sure a stable pipeline of technical skill. It also recognises the role of micro and little enterprises (MSMEs) in generating employment. The enhancement of credit warranties for micro and little enterprises from 5 crore to 10 crore, unlocks an extra 1.5 lakh crore in loans over five years. This, paired with personalized charge card for micro enterprises with a 5 lakh limit, will improve capital access for little businesses. While these procedures are good, the scaling of industry-academia collaboration as well as fast-tracking vocational training will be key to making sure continual job development.

India remains highly based on Chinese imports for solar modules, electrical vehicle (EV) batteries, employment and essential electronic parts, exposing the sector to geopolitical threats and trade barriers. This budget plan takes this obstacle head-on. It designates 81,174 crore to the energy sector, a considerable boost from the 63,403 crore in the present fiscal, signalling a major push towards enhancing supply chains and lowering import reliance. The exemptions for 35 additional capital goods required for EV battery manufacturing contributes to this. The reduction of import task on solar batteries from 25% to 20% and solar modules from 40% to 20% relieves costs for developers while India scales up domestic production capability. The allocation 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 procedures supply the decisive push, but to genuinely achieve our climate objectives, we should likewise accelerate financial investments in battery recycling, crucial mineral extraction, and tactical supply chain integration.

With capital investment approximated at 4.3% of GDP, the greatest it has been for employment the past ten years, this budget plan lays the structure for India’s manufacturing resurgence. Initiatives such as the National Manufacturing Mission will offer enabling policy assistance for small, medium, employment and large industries and will even more solidify the Make-in-India vision by enhancing domestic worth chains. Infrastructure stays a traffic jam for makers. The spending plan addresses this with enormous financial investments in logistics to decrease supply chain expenses, which presently stand at 13-14% of GDP, significantly higher than that of many of the developed nations (~ 8%). A foundation of the Mission is clean tech production. There are guaranteeing measures throughout the value chain. The budget plan introduces customizeds duty exemptions on lithium-ion battery scrap, cobalt, and 12 other important minerals, protecting the supply of necessary products and enhancing India’s position in global clean-tech worth chains.

Despite India’s thriving tech ecosystem, research 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 should prepare now. This spending plan deals with the gap. A good start is the federal government assigning 20,000 crore to a private-sector-driven Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) initiative. The budget plan identifies the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) by presenting the PM Research Fellowship, which will supply 10,000 fellowships for employment technological research in IITs and IISc with improved financial backing. This, together with a Centre of Excellence for AI and 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in federal government schools, are optimistic steps toward a knowledge-driven economy.