Ficci director general: The budget isn’t a list of announcements but a coherent plan to strengthen India’s economy

Reform as a continuous process: A central message of the budget is that reform is not episodic but ongoing. The emphasis on a ‘Reform Express’ underscores an intent to keep improving the regulatory and compliance ecosystem—as we have seen with the simplification of GST, rationalization of quality controls, reduction in procedural friction and greater trust-based governance.

In an environment where businesses value predictability as much as incentives, the steady march of reforms enhances confidence, lowers transaction costs and improves productivity.

Infrastructure as the backbone of competitiveness: The budget keeps its focus on public infrastructure investment, with capital expenditure rising. This reflects an understanding that infrastructure is not merely a stimulus, but a long-term competitiveness strategy.

Investments in transport, logistics, urban infrastructure and multimodal connectivity are designed to ‘crowd-in’ private investment, reduce costs for industry and unlock regional growth. The focus on freight corridors, inland waterways, ports and economic regions highlights network-based infrastructure planning, enabling scale, efficiency and integration across markets.

Manufacturing that plays to India’s strengths: Rather than attempting to compete across all sectors, the budget’s focus is on areas where India has—or can build—enduring strengths: electronics, capital goods, chemicals, clean technologies and textiles. This sectoral focus is underpinned by a continued emphasis on self-reliance to strengthen domestic value chains, reduce critical import dependencies and enhance resilience.

Equally important is the budget’s emphasis on reviving legacy industrial clusters alongside developing frontier sectors. This balanced approach recognizes that our manufacturing future lies as much in modernizing existing ecosystems as in creating new ones. By upgrading infrastructure, technology and skills in established clusters, the budget seeks to improve productivity, preserve employment and strike a fine regional balance.

The focus on manufacturing is not inward-looking. It is explicitly linked to global value chains, export competitiveness and supply chain resilience, positioning India as a reliable manufacturing partner in a diversifying global economy.

Services as the next growth multiplier: The budget also gives a decisive boost to the services sector, recognizing it as a powerful engine of employment, exports and value creation. Measures aimed at education-to-employment pathways, skilling, tourism, healthcare and digital services reflect an understanding that India’s demographic dividend can be fully leveraged through services-led expansion. The emphasis on emerging technologies, including AI, and their integration into services would strengthen India’s position as a knowledge-driven economy.

By aligning services growth with skill development and global demand, the budget aims to ensure that our services sector is both competitive and inclusive.

Openness to foreign investment: In a world where capital flows are turning cautious, the budget sends a clear signal of India’s openness to foreign investment. Proposals to simplify foreign investment rules, enhance tax certainty, expand safe harbours and support global businesses operating from India reinforce the country’s reputation as a stable and predictable destination for long-term capital.

The focus is not merely on attracting capital, but on embedding foreign investment into India’s growth story. This approach strengthens India’s integration with global markets while supporting domestic capability building.

Fiscal discipline as a strength: Perhaps the most reassuring aspect of the budget is its commitment to fiscal consolidation. The reduction in fiscal deficit and declining debt-to-GDP trajectory demonstrate that growth and discipline are not competing objectives. By maintaining fiscal prudence even while increasing capital expenditure, it enhances policy credibility, keeps borrowing costs contained and creates space for future priorities. This discipline favours macroeconomic resilience and reassures investors, rating agencies and global partners.

A high-confidence, high-credibility budget: This budget is best understood not as a collection of announcements, but as a statement of economic confidence. It reflects faith in our reform momentum, belief in the power of infrastructure-led growth, clarity about manufacturing and services priorities, openness to global capital and respect for fiscal responsibility.

For industry, it offers the certainty needed to invest and innovate. For citizens, it promises improved opportunities, services and quality of life. And for the global economy, it reinforces India’s position as a stable, reform-oriented and forward-looking economy.

The author is director general, Ficci.