Budget 2026 Expectations Live: Focus On Clean Energy, Power Infrastructure Push, And More

Mr. Umesh Revankar, Executive Vice Chairman, Shriram Finance laid forth the expectations from the NBFC industry. He says, “The broad expectation from the upcoming Budget is continued support for India’s growth priorities with a strong focus on implementation. With large infrastructure projects already identified, timely execution, smoother coordination, and reduced approval friction will be key to ensuring that spending translates into durable assets. From an NBFC ecosystem perspective, industry discussions have centered on incremental enabling measures rather than headline announcements—such as improving operational efficiency in funding flows, making refinancing channels more accessible, and providing a level playing field in the use of SARFAESI"

Mr. Parveen Gupta, Director, Ramacivil India lays out the expectations from the construction industry. He expects "the upcoming Budget should prioritise timely fund release mechanisms, faster project clearances, and streamlined contract frameworks to improve execution efficiency. Access to long-tenure, low-cost financing for EPC players, especially mid-sized contractors, will be crucial in managing working capital cycles and project risk. Additionally, policy support for adoption of modern construction technologies, prefabrication, and sustainable building practices can help improve productivity and reduce cost overruns."

Mr. Amol Goel, Founder & CEO, Louis Stitch has his own expectations from the point of view of the Indian footwear and leather goods industry. He expects a shift in focus "from volume to value, design, and brand-led manufacturing. We believe the upcoming Budget should prioritise rationalisation of GST on premium footwear and leather accessories, as the current inverted duty structure continues to impact margins and consumer pricing. A more uniform tax regime across materials, components, and finished products will significantly improve supply-chain efficiency and compliance. From a manufacturing standpoint, targeted incentives for modernisation of leather processing, automation in cutting, stitching and finishing, and adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies can help Indian manufacturers improve consistency, reduce wastage, and meet global quality benchmarks."

Vikas Tarachandani, Co-founder, SURE expects the Budget to "strengthen home-loan tax benefits to support long-term affordability. Alongside this, there is a clear need for simpler, borrower-friendly disclosures from lenders-how the interest rate is calculated, what can change over time and when changes are passed on. If we make loan terms easier to understand, we can meaningfully reduce overpayment at a national level and improve household financial resilience".

Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO, Tide India expects a decisive shift towards "easing the cost of doing business. Simplifying GST compliance and reframing compliance as a growth enabler through targeted education, digital-first processes, and trust-based frameworks will help small businesses move from informal survival to scalable growth. The budget must also strengthen credit guarantees, deepen women-focused and PMJDY-linked financing, and enable MSMEs to better leverage India’s FTAs through improved export readiness and working capital support. Equally critical is a targeted push on MSME skilling, focused on digital and sector-specific capabilities, to help businesses improve competitiveness. A focused push on digitisation, including AI-led lending and risk assessment, can bridge the gap between underserved MSMEs and formal finance. With this budget, the government has the opportunity to move beyond short-term relief and lay the foundation for a resilient, tech-enabled, and globally competitive MSME ecosystem.”

Simarpreet Singh, Executive Director & CEO, Hartek Group expects recognition in "grid strength, energy storage, skilled manpower and domestic manufacturing as strategic enablers of India’s energy transition, not peripheral add-ons. Only then can renewable scale translate into stable, bankable and sustainable outcomes. There is a pressing need to accelerate funding for smart grids, flexible transmission networks, HVDC corridors, and extra-high-voltage and GIS substations. Equally important is long-term capability building. Budget 2026 should significantly scale up R&D investments, technology incubators and academic–industry collaboration across renewables, energy storage and grid automation, while introducing focused skilling programmes for high-voltage systems, HVDC, automation and project execution."

Devansh Jain, Executive Director, INOXGFL Group expects that "the focus on clean energy remains positive, especially around increasing transmission capacity, enabling grid flexibility, storage, and resolving ongoing issues, leading to capacity addition growth required to achieve our 2030 target of 500 GW of installed renewable capacity. Our ambition remains unchanged: to contribute meaningfully to India’s sustainable and self-reliant energy future. The opportunity ahead is significant, and we are preparing for it with humility in efforts, ambition in vision, and confidence in our people."