Budget Powers Viksit Bharat with Jobs, Energy, And Innovation Focus
There were increased expectations from Union Budget 2025-26 concerning building on the momentum of last year’s nine budget top priorities – and employment it has actually delivered. With India marching towards realising 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 sensible fiscal management and reinforces the 4 key pillars of India’s economic durability – jobs, energy security, employment production, and innovation.
India needs to develop 7.85 million non-agricultural jobs each year till 2030 – and this budget plan steps up. It has enhanced workforce abilities through the launch of 5 National Centres of Excellence for Skilling and intends to align training with “Make for India, Produce the World” manufacturing needs. Additionally, an expansion of capacity in the IITs will accommodate 6,500 more students, making sure a steady pipeline of technical talent. It likewise acknowledges the function of micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) in generating employment. The enhancement of credit guarantees for micro and small business from 5 crore to 10 crore, unlocks an extra 1.5 lakh crore in loans over 5 years. This, combined with customised charge card for micro business with a 5 lakh limitation, will enhance capital access for small companies. While these steps are good, the scaling of industry-academia partnership as well as fast-tracking employment training will be key to job production.
India stays extremely based on Chinese imports for solar modules, electrical lorry (EV) batteries, and employment essential electronic elements, exposing the sector employment to geopolitical dangers and trade barriers. This budget plan takes this obstacle head-on. It designates 81,174 crore to the energy sector, a significant boost from the 63,403 crore in the current financial, signalling a significant push toward reinforcing supply chains and lowering import dependence. The exemptions for 35 additional capital products required for EV battery manufacturing contributes to this. The decrease of import task on solar cells from 25% to 20% and solar modules from 40% to 20% reduces expenses for developers while India scales up domestic production capability. The allowance to the ministry of new and renewable resource (MNRE) has increased 53% to 26,549 crore, with the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana seeing an 80% dive to 20,000 crore. These steps offer the definitive push, but to genuinely accomplish our environment goals, we need to likewise accelerate investments in battery recycling, vital mineral extraction, and strategic supply chain combination.
With capital expenditure estimated at 4.3% of GDP, the highest it has been for the previous ten years, employment this spending plan lays the foundation for India’s production revival. Initiatives such as the National Manufacturing Mission will offer enabling policy support for little, medium, and large industries and will further strengthen the Make-in-India vision by reinforcing domestic worth chains. Infrastructure stays a bottleneck for manufacturers. The spending plan addresses this with huge investments in logistics to decrease supply chain expenses, which currently stand at 13-14% of GDP, significantly greater than that of the majority of the established nations (~ 8%). A cornerstone of the Mission is tidy tech production. There are assuring procedures throughout the value chain. The budget presents customs duty exemptions on lithium-ion battery scrap, cobalt, and 12 other important minerals, employment protecting the supply of necessary materials and enhancing India’s position in worldwide clean-tech worth chains.
Despite India’s thriving tech environment, research and development (R&D) financial investments stay below 1% of GDP, compared to 2.4% in China and 3.5% in the US. Future tasks will require Industry 4.0 abilities, and India should prepare now. This budget plan deals with the gap. A great start is the federal government designating 20,000 crore to a private-sector-driven Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) initiative. The spending plan acknowledges the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) by presenting the PM Research Fellowship, which will offer 10,000 fellowships for technological research study in IITs and IISc with enhanced financial assistance. This, along with a Centre of Excellence for AI and 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in federal government schools, are positive steps towards a knowledge-driven economy.