As India moves confidently toward becoming a global technology and innovation hub, the Union Budget 2026–27 has generated strong optimism across industries. From semiconductors and AI to digital infrastructure, MSME growth, skilling, and sustainability, the Budget reflects a future-ready vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’. Below are the comments of some of the industry leaders, shared exclusively with NCN, highlighting how these policy measures will drive investment, foster innovation, strengthen domestic capabilities, and position India as a trusted destination for next-generation technologies and inclusive economic growth.
Mr. Alok Dubey, Chief Financial Officer, Acer India
“We welcome the Government of India’s strong and forward-looking focus in the Union Budget 2026-27 on strengthening the technology and electronics ecosystem. The launch of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 with an expanded ₹40,000 crore outlay for electronics and semiconductor manufacturing underscores a decisive push to build India into a global high-technology manufacturing hub, a move that will benefit the broader IT and computing hardware industry. The announcement granting strategic importance to data centre infrastructure and efforts to enhance compute-ready environments aligns well with the growing need for high-performance computing and AI-enabled solutions across sectors. We also appreciate the emphasis on deep tech and AI-related initiatives, including enhanced support for AI ecosystem development and next-generation capabilities that can help drive local innovation and accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge technologies. Such measures will strengthen India’s tech value chain, unlock opportunities for domestic research and development, and support companies in contributing to the Digital India vision, scaling investment, and delivering advanced solutions to enterprise and consumer segments alike.”
Mr. Puneet Singhal, General Secretary, CAIT-Delhi & President, CMDA-Delhi (Regd)
“The Union Budget 2026–27 reflects a progressive, inclusive, and growth-driven roadmap that strengthens the foundation of India’s MSME ecosystem. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Modi in his third term, this budget has opened new avenues for industries across verticals, particularly the IT sector, by encouraging cloud infrastructure, foreign investments, and strong local partnerships that will boost employment and technological advancement. The government’s focus on healthcare, including concessions for critical medicines and the development of medical tourism hubs, will further enhance India’s global standing.
Equally encouraging is the emphasis on tourism in hill and coastal regions, along with support for agriculture-based industries such as cashew and coconut processing, which will uplift regional economies. The continued focus on women empowerment, especially through schemes that benefit rural women and support urban women engaged in exports and entrepreneurship, reflects a holistic approach to development.
This budget demonstrates the government’s sincere intent to take MSMEs to greater heights and create a self-reliant, globally competitive India. We remain confident that its provisions will be highly beneficial for our industry. Wherever necessary, CAIT will actively engage with policymakers to address any gaps and ensure timely support. We appreciate the government’s openness to dialogue and its commitment to nurturing India’s entrepreneurial spirit.”
Mr. Navin Gupta, National President, FAIITA
“The Federation of All India IT Associations (FAIITA), representing India’s dynamic IT industry, extends its sincere appreciation to the Government of India for its strategic emphasis on digital infrastructure in the Union Budget 2026-27. Key highlights include a tax holiday until 2047 for multinational corporations providing cloud services from India, designed to catalyze investments in data centers and enhance the nation’s digital ecosystem.
The Budget establishes a uniform safe harbor margin of 15.5% for IT services, accompanied by an elevated threshold of ₹2,000 crore, promoting stability and growth for the sector. FAIITA particularly welcomes the launch of Semiconductor Mission 2.0, the next phase of the India Semiconductor Mission, which prioritizes indigenous production of equipment, materials, and full-stack designs powered by Indian intellectual property (IP).
Furthermore, the enhanced allocation of ₹40,000 crore for the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), coupled with targeted investments in artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, and digital expansion, underscores the Government’s commitment to technological self-reliance. These forward-looking measures are poised to generate substantial employment opportunities in India’s IT sector and position the country as a global leader in digital innovation.
FAIITA remains dedicated to collaborating with the Government to realize these objectives and advance India’s digital sovereignty. The Federation of All India IT Associations (FAIITA) is a premier industry body advocating for the growth and interests of India’s IT ecosystem.”
Mr. Sanjay Sehgal, CEO & MD, TP-Link India
“The Union Budget 2026 sends a strong signal of intent around strengthening India’s electronics and high-tech manufacturing ecosystem. The continued focus on capital expenditure, the ₹40,000-crore boost to the electronics PLI scheme, and the launch of Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will accelerate localisation, deepen the component supply chain, and position India as a global hub for advanced technology manufacturing. For companies like us, this creates the right environment to expand local production, invest in innovation, and build products that are designed and made in India for global markets. We see this as a significant step towards making India truly self-reliant and globally competitive in the digital infrastructure space.”
Mr. Rajeev Singh, Managing Director, BenQ India and South Asia
“The Union Budget 2026 makes a clear statement on reimagining education as a direct driver of employability and economic growth. The proposed Education-to-Employment Standing Committee acknowledges the urgent need to align learning with industry demand and the accelerating impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Initiatives such as Content Creator Labs in 15,000 schools and the development of university townships near industry corridors mark an important shift towards hands-on, technology-enabled, and industry-connected learning environments. These measures will encourage creativity, collaboration, and real-world skill development across K-12 and higher education.
Together with continued support for domestic manufacturing and the semiconductor ecosystem, the Budget creates a strong foundation for modern digital classrooms and future-ready campuses. It enables education and enterprise technology providers to play a meaningful role in building skills, improving learning outcomes, and preparing India’s talent base for global competitiveness. It will be good to see how these initiatives take shape in the coming days, and we will support them to the best of our ability.”
Mr. Aditya Khemka, Founder & Managing Director, CP PLUS
“The Union Budget 2026 signals a decisive shift in India’s technology and security journey, with a clear focus on building capability at home. The strengthened push under the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 is not only about self-reliance, but about ensuring that the intelligence, computing power, and hardware powering next-generation AI systems are designed and manufactured in India.
The government’s emphasis on artificial intelligence reflects a move from experimentation to real-world, mission-critical deployment. As AI becomes central to public safety, surveillance, and smart infrastructure, this Budget lays the foundation for scalable, secure, and responsible adoption across the country.
For homegrown technology companies, this policy clarity creates long-term confidence to invest locally, innovate for Indian needs, and build globally competitive solutions. It positions India not just as a consumer of advanced technologies, but as a trusted creator of AI-led security and infrastructure solutions aligned with the vision of Make in India.”
Mr. Subhasis Majumdar, Managing Director, Vertiv India
“The Union Budget 2026-27 positions India as a serious global player in digital infrastructure and cloud services. The long-term tax holiday for foreign cloud companies until 2047 is a game-changing move. This move will dramatically improve investment and make India significantly more competitive. As a global leader in critical infrastructure that powers data centres, AI factories, hyperscale campuses, and cloud environments, we see this as a direct accelerator for the high-density, high-efficiency facilities that will define tomorrow’s digital economy. Our advanced power systems, liquid cooling technologies, and integrated rack solutions are purpose-built to support exactly this scale of sustainable, AI-ready build-out.
Equally important is the much-needed relief given to the broader IT services industry. These measures will bring huge relief in compliance burden and allow companies to focus on business growth and innovation. Together, this will attract large global cloud investment, drive massive new data centre capacity, create a huge multiplier effect for power, cooling, critical infrastructure and digital ecosystem players. We firmly believe that this budget will accelerate India’s emergence as a global digital infrastructure powerhouse.”
Mr. Debraj Dam, Chief of VAD Venture, Supertron Electronics Pvt Ltd.
“The Union Budget 2026-27 is a landmark ‘Infrastructure-First’ roadmap that fundamentally shifts India’s role from a global consumer to a global architect of high-tech solutions. For the Value-Added Distribution (VAD) landscape, the doubling of the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) to ₹40,000 crore and the launch of ISM 2.0 provide the long-term fiscal predictability required to build a world-class domestic supply chain.
What stands out most is the strategic focus on ‘Intelligence-First’ infrastructure. The government’s decision to offer a tax holiday until 2047 for global cloud providers—contingent on utilizing Indian resellers—is a game-changing technical mandate. It empowers VADs to move beyond product supply and lead the deployment of complex Hybrid Cloud and Edge Computing architectures.
As we scale our efforts in AI-ready storage, specialized data center solutions, and smart surveillance, this budget provides the necessary tailwinds to turn ‘Viksit Bharat’ into a tangible, high-tech reality.”
“This budget is the catalyst that transforms VAD from a logistics function into a ‘Solution Engineering’ powerhouse, bridging the gap between global innovation and India’s sovereign digital infrastructure.”
Mr. Rajesh Doshi Director and Co-Founder at Zebronics
“The Union Budget 2026 sends a strong and timely signal towards strengthening India’s electronics manufacturing backbone in line with the Viksit Bharat vision. The emphasis on empowering MSMEs, developing rare-earth and component supply corridors, and reinforcing core manufacturing capabilities will be crucial in building resilient domestic ecosystems. Equally important is the government’s intent to simplify taxation and improve ease of doing business, enabling manufacturers to deploy capital more efficiently toward growth and innovation. For Zebronics, this direction aligns seamlessly with our long-term commitment to local manufacturing and our readiness for the next phase of consumer electronics demand in India.”
Mr. Rajesh Goenka, CEO, Rashi Peripherals Limited
“This Budget reinforces India’s ambition to build a globally competitive, self-reliant ICT ecosystem by strengthening both manufacturing depth and distribution efficiency. The expanded focus on domestic electronics components, semiconductor capabilities, will accelerate local assembly while improving cost competitiveness across key ICT categories. Measures supporting cloud infrastructure, data centres, and a simplified IT services framework bring long-needed clarity for technology providers and distributors alike. Together with continued investments in digital public infrastructure and connectivity, these initiatives create a strong foundation for sustained ICT growth and wider technology adoption across India.”
Mr. Jaydeep Singh, General Manager for India, Kaspersky
“Union Budget 2026- 27 reinforces the government’s strong focus on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies as force multipliers for governance, economic growth, and service delivery, while strengthening the enabling environment for digital infrastructure through its emphasis on the services sector and measures to attract global business. Continued support through initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission, National Quantum Mission, and Research, Development and Innovation Fund reflects a clear intent to build a future-ready digital economy. Proposals around data centre-led global cloud services and safe-harbour frameworks for IT services signal a commitment to deepening India’s digital backbone. As City Economic Regions and Tier II and Tier III infrastructure expand, demand for reliable, secure enterprise connectivity will rise.
The Budget takes a pragmatic, execution-focused approach to scaling technology and AI across India’s digital ecosystem. Measures such as bringing IT services under a single framework, setting a common safe harbour margin of 15.5%, raising the eligibility threshold from ₹300 crore to ₹2,000 crore, and moving to an automated, rule-driven approval process significantly reduce friction for technology-led enterprises.
The emphasis on emerging technologies with AI positioned as a force multiplier for governance and productivity signals a clear shift from policy intent to implementation. As digital services, AI platforms, and data-driven systems scale across sectors, strong cybersecurity becomes essential to ensuring trust, continuity, and reliability. At Kaspersky, we believe that secure-by-design digital systems and robust cyber resilience are critical to unlocking the full value of AI-led transformation. We welcome initiatives that strengthen trust-based digital frameworks and enable organizations to adopt advanced technologies with confidence.”
Dr. Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director, Quick Heal Technologies Limited
“We appreciate the Government’s strong thrust on digital acceleration across services, cloud infrastructure and data centre ecosystems, which will significantly expand how enterprises, institutions and citizens engage with digital systems. The extension of tax holidays for cloud services, safe harbour frameworks for IT services, and large-scale investments across financial services, logistics, healthcare, education and tourism will lead to deeper adoption of AI-driven and data-led platforms. With initiatives such as AgriStack integration with AI, digital education ecosystems, medical value tourism hubs and large-scale skilling programmes, cyber resilience becomes foundational to this growth. I am confident that with over three decades of shaping cybersecurity in India, Quick Heal and Seqrite remain committed to protecting country’s digital frontiers and enabling individuals and organisations of all sizes to remain resilient as part of the country’s digital transformation journey.”
Dr. Kailash Katkar, CMD, Quick Heal Technologies Limited
“We thank the Government of India for a forward-looking Budget that places strong emphasis on cutting-edge technologies including AI, digital public infrastructure and expansion of IT and cloud services as well as entrepreneurship at grassroots. The focus on AI-driven systems in healthcare, agriculture (AgriStack) and education ecosystems significantly expands the digital footprint of citizens, making data protection and consumer cyber resilience increasingly critical. Initiatives such as AVGC labs in schools, National Digital Knowledge Grid for tourism, Medical Value Tourism hubs and large-scale skilling programmes further underline the importance of safeguarding personal data, digital identities, and the need for self-reliant indigenous cyber resilience. With a legacy of over 30 years, Quick Heal and Seqrite’s cutting edge cybersecurity solutions have been at the forefront of protecting individuals, businesses, enterprises and govt organisations against evolving digital threats ensuring that India accelerates towards a digitally empowered society.”
Mr. Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India
“The expansion of India Semiconductor Mission through ISM 2.0 in Budget 2026 is a strong step towards building India as a global semiconductor hub. By prioritizing the development of full-stack Indian IP and domestic equipment manufacturing with continued policy support, the government is fostering an environment to boost innovation and design, strengthening India’s competitiveness by supporting scale, speed and just-in-time manufacturing.”
Mr. Alok Nigam, Managing Director, Brother International (India)
“The Union Budget 2026 strikes a thoughtful balance between growth ambition and on-ground business realities. By simplifying GST, strengthening domestic manufacturing and placing MSMEs at the centre of the growth agenda, the government has addressed some of the most pressing needs of Indian enterprises.
The announcement of a ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, along with a clear increase in outlay for electronics and semiconductor-led manufacturing to ₹40,000 crore and the launch of the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, sends a strong signal of India’s intent to deepen value addition and build resilient supply chains. The continued focus on electronics components manufacturing, industrial clusters, hi-tech tool rooms and infrastructure-led growth reinforces the long-term commitment to strengthening India’s domestic manufacturing ecosystem. These measures will encourage businesses to invest in technology, improve productivity and scale with greater confidence. For MSMEs which contribute close to 30% of India’s GDP better access to capital and structured growth support can significantly accelerate modernisation.
For Brother International India, this creates a more conducive environment for wider adoption of office automation and digital workflow solutions across enterprises and consumers. As India aligns more closely with global markets, the Budget’s emphasis on localisation, technology adoption and ease of doing business positions businesses to compete more efficiently, while enabling us to support them with reliable, productivity-driven solutions.”
Mr. Vishal Parekh, Chief Operating Officer, CyberPowerPC India
“The Budget’s support for AVGC creator labs across 15,000 schools and 500 colleges marks a powerful step toward building a future-ready workforce. With the sector projected to require 2 million professionals by 2030, this initiative can accelerate job creation and empower young Indians to pursue high-value careers in gaming, animation, and visual technologies. Realizing this vision calls for access to high-performance computing environments that match global benchmarks. At CyberPowerPC India, we see this as a defining opportunity to equip the next generation with the tools they need to create, compete, and lead, fueling innovation while strengthening India’s emergence as a global creative and technology powerhouse. We commend the government’s forward-looking commitment to strengthening India’s AVGC ecosystem.”
Mr. Meenu Singhal, Regional Managing Director, Socomec Innovative Power Solutions
“The Union Budget 2026–27 charts a decisive course for India’s evolution into a global technology leader. The enhanced capital outlay of ₹12.2 lakh crore and the launch of the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 reaffirm the government’s commitment to deep-tech indigenization. The ₹40,000 crore allocation for electronics component manufacturing is a strategic intervention that propels the ecosystem toward advanced engineering and value creation. The focus on establishing Rare Earth Corridors further strengthens the foundation for a secure and self-reliant supply chain. The budget’s emphasis on providing skilling programmes will encourage the youth in providing quality employment opportunities.
At Socomec, we welcome the government’s thrust on high-tech manufacturing and the ₹10,000 crore MSME Growth Fund, both of which will accelerate innovation and competitiveness across the electrical sector, driving the vision of an ‘Aatmanirbhar’ and ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.”
Mr. Sunil Mathur, MD and CEO, Siemens Limited
“We welcome the government’s consistent focus on long-term economic growth and structural transformation in the Union Budget 2026-27. The record INR 12.2 lakh crore capital expenditure allocation, sustained emphasis on infrastructure development, and a fiscal deficit target of around 4.3% reflect a continued and disciplined approach to strengthening India’s growth foundations.
The budget’s focus on technology-led manufacturing, digital infrastructure such as data centers, and next-generation mobility including high-speed rail supports India’s ambition to become a global innovation and manufacturing hub. Continued support for MSMEs, skilling, and ease of doing business will be critical in ensuring that growth is broad-based and resilient. As industries navigate rapid technological change, the government’s spotlight on scale, execution, and investments in connectivity, smart infrastructure, and talent development provides a clear and credible roadmap for sustainable and inclusive growth.”
Mr. Hemant Tiwari, Managing Director – India & SAARC, Hitachi Vantara
“The Union Budget 2026-27 is a significant step in strengthening India’s digital and data infrastructure. By providing long-term incentives and a clear safe harbour framework for data centres and cloud services, the government is creating an ecosystem that encourages global investment and drives technological innovation. These measures will accelerate the growth of world-class data centres, enable secure and efficient cloud operations, and foster the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI. By supporting infrastructure development across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and facilitating a robust digital services ecosystem, the budget positions India to become a global hub for data, cloud, and IT services, while creating new opportunities for talent and sustainable economic growth.”
Mr. Hitesh Garg, Vice President and India Managing Director, NXP Semiconductors
“The Union Budget 2026 presents a clear and structured framework for strengthening India’s semiconductor and electronics manufacturing ecosystem. The announcement of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, together with the enhanced ₹40,000 crore outlay for the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme, signals a strong commitment to strengthening chip design, advanced research, electronics systems design, manufacturing, and talent development.
The emphasis on research infrastructure, design enablement, and skill-building will be critical in positioning India as a global hub for electronic systems R&D and full-stack design excellence. NXP welcomes this direction and remains committed to working closely with stakeholders to support the development of world-class design capabilities, cutting-edge research, and a robust innovation ecosystem, helping India to become an ESDM product nation.”
Mr. Piyush Jha, Group Vice President & Head – APAC at GlobalLogic
“This Union Budget 2026–27 is a strong signal of policy confidence, positioning technology as the backbone of a Viksit Bharat. At a time when global macro headwinds are reshaping tech spending, the Budget brings much-needed certainty for India’s IT services and GCC ecosystem. The unified IT services safe harbour framework with a predictable 15.5% margin, along with faster closure of advance pricing agreements, meaningfully strengthens ease of doing business and reinforces India’s competitiveness as a global delivery and engineering hub.
Just as importantly, the Budget makes a clear long-term bet on AI, through AI-led governance and enabling digital infrastructure, while recognising that India’s next growth curve will be won on talent. What is more encouraging is our government’s balanced approach, combining regulatory simplicity with long-term bets on AI-led governance, emerging technologies like quantum computing, and stronger participation of women in STEM. Put together, this is a decisive step towards making India not just a scale destination, but a high-value, trusted technology partner to the world.”
Mr. Atul Soneja, Chief Operating Officer, Tech Mahindra
“The Union Budget 2026 reinforces India’s emergence as a trusted technology and innovation partner. The Government’s recognition of cutting‑edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence as force multipliers for good governance is particularly encouraging. It underscores the pivotal role of the Indian IT industry in delivering innovation, efficiency and scalable digital solutions for the nation. Initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission, National Quantum Mission, National Research Fund and the enhanced R&D ecosystem reflect a bold, inclusive, and future‑ready vision. This alignment of policy, technology and talent will accelerate India’s journey toward becoming a global innovation powerhouse. Additionally, the launch of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will significantly strengthen the country’s technology ecosystem by deepening the integration of hardware and software capabilities, positioning India as a leader in next‑generation digital infrastructure.”
Mr. Sachin Panicker, Chief AI Officer, Fulcrum Digital
“The Union Budget 2026-27 recognises that artificial intelligence is no longer an experimental technology but a strategic lever for governance, productivity and economic growth. It has specifically highlighted AI applications to enhance governance and introduced measures such as the AI Mission, National Quantum Mission and significant new funding through the Anusandhan National Research Foundation and the Research and Development and Innovation Fund. At Fulcrum Digital, we believe the 21st century’s true potential lies in shifting from simple automation to Intelligence Amplification (IA). By backing R&D and innovation funds, the government is providing the essential fuel for enterprises to move beyond experimentation to real-world, scalable impact.
Equally important is the decision to substantially enhance the safe harbour threshold for IT services from ₹300 crore to ₹2,000 crore, which will significantly reduce compliance friction and improve operating certainty for a much broader set of technology firms. This move aims to strengthen India’s technology ecosystem by expanding research capacity, supporting translational innovation and building future capabilities in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education and public services. For this framework to create measurable impact we need coordinated implementation with industry and academia, greater focus on data and compute infrastructure, and skilling pathways that align with the evolving demand for specialised AI talent.”
Mr. Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and MD of NODWIN Gaming
“The Union Budget 2026–27’s support for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector through the expansion of AVGC creator labs is a strong step toward building India’s creative and digital talent pipeline. The government’s backing of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), whose inauguration we were proud to be present for, reflects a clear commitment to equipping young Indians with future-ready skills across animation, gaming and storytelling. As organizers of large-scale cultural platforms such as the NH7 Weekender and Comic Con India, we are constantly seeking skilled talent to shape immersive experiences, and initiatives like these will help widen that pool while accelerating original IP creation and high-quality game development. Greater access to creative technologies will enable more homegrown, culturally relevant content to thrive.”
Mr. Animesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, S8UL Esports and 8Bit Creatives
“Having built teams and businesses in gaming and esports over the years, I’ve seen first-hand how rapidly the AVGC sector is growing and how urgently India needs structured skilling to keep pace. The projection of two million professionals required by 2030 highlights both the scale of the opportunity and the responsibility on industry and institutions to prepare future-ready talent. Initiatives like these will not only create meaningful career pathways for young Indians but also help position India as a global hub for animation, gaming, and digital storytelling.”
Mr. Sunil Gupta, Co-founder, CEO & Managing Director, Yotta Data Services
“The Union Budget 2026 marks a decisive and well-thought-out shift in how India approaches cloud and data centres, recognising them as long-term strategic infrastructure that underpins AI adoption, digital public services, and economic growth. The announcement of a tax holiday till 2047 for global cloud operators setting up data-centre infrastructure in India is a strong signal aimed at accelerating capital inflow, early capacity creation, and faster enterprise cloud adoption at scale.
At the same time, the introduction of a clear safe harbour provision including a defined 15% tax on cost for cloud and data-centre services delivered through Indian operating entities addresses a different but equally important objective: long-term certainty and scalability. In practice, while the tax holiday helps global players enter India quickly, large-scale and mission-critical operations naturally gravitate towards Indian entities because predictability in taxation, compliance, and regulatory alignment matters far more than headline tax rates as businesses scale.
As cloud and AI workloads move from experimentation to regulated and business-critical deployment, global cloud providers are therefore unlikely to own and operate all physical infrastructure themselves. Instead, they will increasingly adopt asset-light models outsourcing both colocation and high-performance GPU infrastructure to trusted Indian partners while focusing on platforms, software, and customer engagement. This allows them to scale rapidly, manage capital and technology risk, and operate within a stable and transparent tax framework under the safe harbour regime.
For sovereign Indian platforms like Yotta, this evolution creates strong complementarity rather than competition. As hyperscalers localise through Indian entities and expand their India footprint, demand for hyperscale data centres combined with GPU-dense, AI-optimised infrastructure will rise sharply – areas where Indian operators with deep local execution capabilities, regulatory alignment, and energy-backed capacity are uniquely positioned.
In that sense, Budget 2026 does more than attract global investment. It expands the overall AI and cloud market while anchoring global platforms within the Indian ecosystem, reinforcing the strategic role of Indian cloud and data-centre companies as the sovereign, compliant, AI-ready infrastructure backbone of India’s digital future.”
Mr. Pinkesh Kotecha, Chairman and Managing Director, Ishan Technologies
“The Union Budget 2026–27 marks a decisive shift in positioning digital infrastructure as a strategic national asset. Long-term tax holiday for global cloud players using Indian data centres and safe harbour provisions provide much-needed certainty and the recognition of cloud and DCs alongside core infrastructure send position India as a credible hub for digital infrastructure serving global markets.
What stands out is the strong alignment between policy intent and execution, from sovereign cloud enablement and AI-ready data centre capacity to accelerated city-level digital infrastructure across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. This clearly favours players with pan-India footprints and the ability to deliver connectivity, data centres, cloud, and managed services as an integrated stack. As enterprises, governments, and high-tech industries increasingly run mission-critical, data-intensive workloads, continued support for compliant, India-hosted cloud and resilient networks will be essential. The Budget lays a solid foundation for infrastructure-led digital growth and positions integrated infrastructure providers to emerge as default digital partners in India’s next phase of industrial, cloud, and AI-driven expansion.”
Mr. Prakash Ravindran, CEO& Director, InstiFi
“The Union Budget 2026 underscores the government’s intent to build a stronger, more inclusive MSME ecosystem through enhanced credit access, equity support, and digital-first liquidity measures. Initiatives such as the ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, expanded credit guarantee cover, and deeper integration of platforms like TReDS and GeM will be instrumental in unlocking growth for small businesses across India. At InstiFi, we see this as a defining moment for technology-led financial platforms to bridge long-standing credit and compliance gaps, particularly for MSMEs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The focus on risk capital, invoice financing, and simplified access to formal credit aligns closely with InstiFi’s mission to enable smarter, faster, and more transparent financing for growing enterprises. Overall, the Budget sets the stage for a more resilient, innovation-driven MSME landscape powered by digital financial solutions.”
Mr. Murali Mantravadi, Joint Managing Director, Energy Bots – Flosenso
“Reading the Union Budget 2026, what becomes clear is a steady shift in how technology is being viewed. The push through India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and higher investment in electronic components suggests the government wants India to build deeper capability, not just scale services. That is an important signal. Sustainable advantage comes from owning design, supply chains and execution, not only distribution. The continued emphasis on AI, industry-linked research and creative skills points to an understanding that technology outcomes depend as much on people and process as on policy. The real test now is execution, but the intent feels more structural than symbolic.”
Dr. Sujata Seshadrinathan, Co-Founder & Director, Digital Transformation, Basiz
“The budget clearly indicated GOI momentum towards optimum adoption and propagation of advanced technology. Digital enablement and its accruing progress has benefited all sectors including PSUs, manufacturing, health care, finance, and defence and is rightly empowering our growing economic status. At this juncture the respected FM taking cognizance of both the pros as well as seeking to address the cons like ecological impact and Labour displacement caused by technology, AI for instance, is very much a push in the right direction. Addressing AI possibilities for a broad spectrum of applications and its impact on youth, farmers, women in STEM, Divyang, with budgetary allocation for skilling as well as reskilling displaced labor has addressed the need of the hour. Policy stability as a requirement for this progress has also been recognised. Over all the placement of Deep tech as a catalyst for inclusive growth while addressing the necessary conditions for this has received the necessary focus and boost in the budget through the various schemes announced.”
Mr. Deepank Bhandari, Co-founder, S45
“The Union Budget 2026 underscores that India’s growth in the 21st century will be technology-driven. By prioritizing AI, emerging technologies, and R&D, the government is signaling a clear commitment to innovation-led, inclusive growth. The focus on advanced sectors, workforce upskilling, and assessing the impact of AI on jobs reflects a proactive approach to building a future-ready economy. From a technology and services perspective, these measures are significant; they combine efficiency, transparency, and data-driven decision-making with opportunities for broader economic participation.
For technology-driven companies, this Budget underlines the potential to scale solutions that modernise processes, enhance operational rigor, and unlock new avenues for growth, helping India harness innovation for broad-based and sustainable economic development.”
Mr. Anand Sahay, Global CEO, Xebia
“The Budget reinforces technology as a core driver of India’s future growth and capacity building, aligned with the Government’s kartavya of fulfilling aspirations through productivity and inclusion. The emphasis on emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, underscores their role in driving innovation, competitiveness, and broad-based economic participation.
Continued support for national initiatives such as the AI Mission, National Quantum Mission, Anusandhan National Research Fund, and the Research, Development and Innovation Fund strengthens India’s research and innovation ecosystem. The proposed AI-led capacity building initiatives, targeting up to 25 crore individuals, reflect a clear intent to democratise access to future-ready skills at scale.
The renewed focus on the services sector further positions technology-led services as a key pathway for employment generation, upskilling, and aspiration-led growth for a youthful workforce.
Overall, the Budget signals a sustained commitment to building a technology-driven, inclusive economy where AI and emerging technologies enable both innovation and opportunity.
At Xebia, we are embedding AI across our engineering, delivery, and decision-making while enabling clients to operationalise AI at scale. We welcome this direction as a strong step toward reinforcing India’s role as a global leader in advanced technology and digital engineering.”
Mr. Atul Arya, Founder & CEO, Blackstraw AI
“The Union Budget 2026 creates a clear pathway for enterprises to scale AI from pilots to real-world adoption. By simplifying IT services under a single framework, setting a 15.5% safe harbour margin, and raising the eligibility threshold from ₹300 crore to ₹2,000 crore, the Government has provided greater clarity and predictability for AI-led services. Coupled with the focus on responsible AI, governance applications, and real-world tools like multilingual AI for farmers, this aligns perfectly with Blackstraw AI’s mission of helping organisations operationalise AI through robust data foundations, intelligent automation, and measurable outcomes.
Importantly, the Budget also introduces long-term incentives for cloud and data centre investments, including a tax holiday until 2047 for foreign cloud providers operating in India. This will strengthen India’s digital backbone, ensuring enterprises have access to high-performance compute, scalable storage, and AI-ready infrastructure. Combined with the broader push on digital infrastructure, services-led growth, and emerging technologies, these measures position India to become a global hub for AI and intelligent digital transformation services, creating a highly conducive environment for innovation and enterprise adoption at scale.”
Mr. Vidit Aatrey, Co-founder, Managing Director and CEO at Meesho
“The Union Budget 2026–27 reflects a clear shift from isolated support measures to an ecosystem-led approach for Indian MSMEs and digital commerce. Initiatives such as the ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, deeper integration of TReDS with GeM, and stronger credit guarantees will meaningfully ease working capital constraints for small sellers, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets where e-commerce is growing rapidly. The emphasis on logistics infrastructure, cluster modernisation, and cost-efficient supply chains is critical to improving efficiency and lowering cost-to-serve. The continued focus on strengthening the MSME ecosystem, including targeted efforts to encourage women entrepreneurs, will help broaden participation and deepen livelihood creation across regions.
Beyond MSMEs, the Budget’s focus on strengthening core technology infrastructure, including data centres and cloud capacity, is an important enabler for the broader economy. By lowering the cost of domestic digital infrastructure, these measures will support wider adoption of AI-driven tools and advanced technologies across businesses of all sizes. Taken together, the Budget lays the foundation for a more resilient, inclusive, and scalable growth ecosystem.”
Mr. Pratap Mane, President & Country Head – India, Colt DCS
“The Union Budget 2026-27 marks a pivotal moment in accelerating India’s digital infrastructure ambitions. The extension of the tax holiday to 2047 for foreign cloud providers leveraging Indian data centre capacity is a bold, investor-attractive policy that stands out globally for its long-term horizon. This provides the fiscal predictability essential for committing to large-scale, capital-intensive developments, directly supporting our ongoing expansion and efforts to deliver hundreds of megawatts of AI-ready, hyperscale capacity.
The 15% safe harbour for related-party data centre services further streamlines operations for international players building in India, reducing complexity and enhancing cost efficiency in a high-growth environment. We see this as a clear catalyst for India’s rise as a preferred global hub, enabling operators like Colt DCS to scale sustainably and deliver the trusted, customer-centric infrastructure that global hyperscalers demand.”
Mr. Narendra Sen, Founder & CEO, RackBank Data Centers
“We welcome the Union Budget 2026–27 as a strong and investor-positive signal at a time when global capital is actively comparing India with other data centre markets. India already contributes nearly 20 percent of the global data economy, while the global data centre market stands at approximately 120 GW. Even capturing one percent of this opportunity highlights the scale of the current capacity gap and the headroom for growth.
With deployed capacity still at an early stage, India has the potential to reach nearly 10 GW over the next five years, translating into investments of close to USD 70–100 billion across data centre infrastructure. Long-term tax certainty through the proposed tax holiday significantly improves return visibility for global investors, including infrastructure funds and real estate-focused capital, and makes Indian data centre platforms more attractive as a long-term asset class.
India’s advantage is not limited to policy support. Build costs in India are among the lowest globally at approximately USD 5 million per megawatt, compared to USD 10–12 million in several international markets, materially improving project economics. Combined with domestic manufacturing capability, reduced import dependence, and a strong clean energy ecosystem across solar and wind, the operating environment is structurally competitive.
Equally important is India’s geographic positioning. From locations across eastern and western India, data centres can serve South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa within low latency thresholds, enabling access to nearly half of the world’s population. This combination of market scale, cost efficiency, energy availability and policy clarity positions India as a credible regional and global hub for digital infrastructure.
For companies like RackBank, this Budget strengthens confidence to expand capacity, attract global capital and support the delivery of scalable, secure and sovereign digital infrastructure for both Indian and international customers.”
Mr. Vikram Labhe, Founder & CEO, Melooha
“When we look at where innovation is headed today, it is clear that most breakthroughs are being built on an AI backbone. There is a sharp and growing demand not just for skilled professionals, but for original ideas that can be translated into real economic value. It is encouraging to see the government recognise this shift and respond with a meaningful increase in funding for AI-powered, industry-linked labs, especially across Tier 2 and Tier 3 institutions. This focus helps decentralise innovation and brings high-quality research closer to where talent is emerging. For companies like Melooha, this creates a stronger pipeline of ideas, skills, and applied intelligence. With sustained support for AI and targeted backing for MSMEs, we can expect a new wave of solutions across sectors that are locally rooted, globally relevant, and capable of shaping the next phase of India’s digital economy.”
Mr. Sandeep Lanjewar, Senior Director, Palladium India
“Budget 2026 presents a cohesive national vision for skill development and MSME‑led growth. In textile sector, modernized clusters, mega parks and sustainability‑driven innovation will strengthen MSMEs and empower artisans, a critical need as India gains competitive advantage through the recent India–EU trade deal. Simultaneously, the expansion of ABGC creator labs across 15,000 schools and colleges, along with a new National Institute of Design, builds a futuristic talent pipeline. The skilling thrust extends to tourism as well, with 10,000 guides to be trained across 20 iconic destinations. Together, these interventions unlock inclusive growth and globally competitive value chains across sectors.”
Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder & Chairman, Bharti Enterprises
“A bold Budget that combines growth with inclusion. The strong emphasis on skilling, alongside sustained investments in science, innovation, and research are timely & will strengthen domestic capabilities, advancing import substitution in critical sectors.
Bolstering infrastructure and logistics, with a focus on energy efficiency and impetus for the data centre ecosystem, will further reinforce confidence in our burgeoning digital economy.
Bharti remains highly committed to play its part in enabling technology-led growth, expanding financial inclusion, and accelerating future-ready education through Bharti Airtel Foundation to secure India’s talent dividend.”
Mr. Pradeip Agarwal, Co- Founder & CRO, Stratbeans
“Budget 2026–27 signals that AI adoption in India is moving into the scale phase. With a ₹1 lakh crore commitment towards research, innovation, and emerging technologies, the focus is clearly shifting from pilots to enterprise-wide execution. The winners will be organisations that go beyond isolated use-cases and build AI capability across people, process, and performance. This isn’t just about skilling; it’s about redesigning workflows, strengthening governance, and embedding AI into day-to-day operations to unlock measurable productivity and quality gains. The next advantage will come from execution how quickly businesses can turn AI intent into repeatable outcomes across functions.”
Mr. Dinakar Menon, Managing Partner and Business Head of BigTrunk Communications
“When we look at this Budget through the lens of the marketing industry, the message is clear that artificial intelligence is no longer a future tool but a present-day growth engine. The decision to increase funding for AI-powered, industry-linked labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 institutions is especially important because it expands the talent and innovation base beyond metros and brings applied intelligence closer to real business problems. For marketing, where content, consumer insight, and automation now depend heavily on data and machine learning, this creates a stronger pipeline of skills and solutions. The formation of a standing committee to study the impact of emerging technologies on jobs also reflects a balanced approach that recognises both opportunity and responsibility. With sustained support through national AI and research missions, India has a chance to build a marketing ecosystem that is smarter, more export-ready, and globally competitive while remaining inclusive and future-facing.”
Mr. Satya Yeruva, Co-Founder & CEO of FinStackk
“It is a positive step that the Union Budget has enhanced the safe harbour threshold for IT services to Rs 2,000 crore from Rs 300 crore. Bringing all IT companies under a single, uniform safe harbour category will simplify compliance, reduce uncertainty, and make tax obligations far more predictable. This change benefits not just small and mid-sized companies, but larger firms as well, lowering the risk of litigation and enabling them to expand globally with confidence. The allocation of Rs 10,000 crore as a growth fund for startups and MSMEs is equally encouraging, as it provides the capital and support needed to scale their operations, innovate, and contribute to India’s growing digital economy. Measures like these reinforce India as a stable and attractive base for technology-driven businesses while fostering entrepreneurship and long-term growth.”
Mr. Subhakar Pappula, Founder & CEO, Flamingo Aerospace
“The Union Budget 2026–27 is a timely and decisive intervention for India’s civil aviation ecosystem. The exemption of basic customs duty on aviation components, parts, and raw materials directly addresses long-standing cost and supply-chain constraints that have limited scale, localisation, and global competitiveness.
As highlighted by Hon’ble Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the proposed duty exemptions for components used in civilian training and other aircraft, as well as for raw materials supporting MRO requirements in the defence sector, will significantly strengthen domestic manufacturing and maintenance capabilities.
These measures will accelerate aircraft manufacturing, expand MRO infrastructure, create skilled employment, and reinforce India’s emergence as a dependable regional aviation and aerospace hub. The Budget’s broader emphasis on capital investment, including customs duty exemptions on capital goods across key sectors, along with the proposal to institutionalise services-sector policy through a high-powered committee assessing the impact of AI on jobs, reflects a forward-looking approach to competitiveness and workforce readiness.
Together, these steps strongly advance the objectives of Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat by enabling the aviation sector to build resilience, deepen value addition, and move up the global value chain.”
Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt (retd.), Director General, Indian Space Association (ISpA)
“We are hopeful that today’s Budget, with its emphasis on easing processes and creating a more investment friendly environment for science and technology, will encourage greater private sector participation. The increase in ISRO’s allocation to Rs 13,705.63 crore in FY 2026–27 is an important signal that will help support deeper private sector participation in ISRO led programmes across launch vehicles, satellites and scientific missions. Alongside this, the announcement on expanding telescope infrastructure and learning facilities is a meaningful step towards strengthening India’s scientific base in astrophysics and astronomy. Together, these measures can improve observational capabilities, enable long term research and strengthen collaboration between ISRO, academia and industry, gradually enhancing India’s contribution to global space science and the broader space ecosystem.”
Mr. Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India
“The Union Budget’s strong emphasis on long-term growth, Atmanirbharta, and India’s emergence as a global manufacturing and logistics hub creates significant opportunities for the geospatial sector. The substantial increase in capital expenditure to ₹12.2 lakh crore, with a clear focus on freight and rail corridors, inland waterways and multimodal infrastructure, will play a critical role in reducing logistics costs and turnaround times. Investments aimed at improving Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, alongside the AMRUT programme, will accelerate balanced urban development. The ₹1.4 lakh crore provision to the states will lead to initiatives that will underscore the growing role of geospatial intelligence in planning, monitoring and decision-making, positioning the sector as a key enabler of India’s development agenda.”
Mr. Ganesh Gopalan, Co-Founder & CEO, Gnani.ai
“The Union Budget 2026 is a timely and forward-looking budget, with the Finance Minister rightly highlighting that AI will have a strong multiplier effect on the Indian economy. The focus on assessing the impact of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence on jobs and skills reinforces the need to prepare for this shift. The adoption of AI and rapid tech advancements is essential for inclusive national progress, driving productivity and new economic opportunities. Taxation benefits for data centres and safe harbour clauses will further enable large-scale AI model training and infrastructure growth. Initiatives like multilingual AI-based agriculture tools for farmers show meaningful grassroots impact, while large-scale upskilling and industry–academia collaboration remain key to building a future-ready workforce”
Mr. Abhishek Garg, Director, DBG Technology Pvt. Ltd
“Union Budget 2026 further strengthens the foundation for the Government’s enhanced capital expenditure and progressive industry-focused schemes — particularly the expansion of the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 with a significant outlay — signal a transformative push for electronics, semiconductors and high-value tech manufacturing. The emphasis on electronics components manufacturing, skills development and strategic investment incentives is a decisive step toward reducing import dependence and scaling indigenous capabilities. We are encouraged by this forward-looking policy framework that aligns with our commitment to innovation, ‘Make in India’, and empowering the Indian technology ecosystem. We believe the budget focuses on accelerating growth for the industry but will also help in strengthening India’s position in the global technology landscape, inspiring confidence for long-term investment, job creation, and sustained competitiveness.”
Mr. Ankit Agarwal, Vice-Chairman & Non-Executive Director, Invenia-STL Networks
“The Union Budget 2026 firmly positions the services sector as a core growth engine of Viksit Bharat, reinforcing its role in driving economic growth, employment and exports. The Budget advances the Government’s long-term focus on attracting foreign investment into digital infrastructure, strengthening India’s emergence as a preferred cloud services hub while fostering domestic innovation. A clear emphasis on data centres recognises them as critical enablers of India’s digital growth and its ambitions in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure, supported by incentives aimed at strengthening the country’s data infrastructure and AI-led capabilities. Equally important is the shift towards tax clarity and certainty to reinforce India’s position as a global technology and data hub. Consolidating software, IT-enabled services, KPO and contract R&D under a single Information Technology Services framework will also bring in clarity and tax certainty. A uniform safe harbour margin, higher eligibility thresholds and automated approvals will significantly reduce compliance friction and strengthen India’s standing as a global IT services hub. Together, these measures will strengthen India’s trajectory to becoming a trusted, scalable destination for digital workloads, aligning talent, technology and infrastructure for sustained growth in an AI-led global economy.”
Mr. Vasudha Madhavan, Founder & CEO, Ostara Advisors
“This Budget reflects a shift from aspiration to execution. The creation of rare earth corridors in mineral-rich states addresses a critical supply-chain vulnerability by anchoring domestic manufacturing capabilities. Importantly, the ₹20,000 crore commitment to carbon capture and storage establishes a credible foundation for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as power, steel, and cement, where alternatives remain limited at scale. The government’s phased, programmatic approach to CCUS enables industrial emissions reduction without disrupting growth, strengthens energy security, and advances India’s net-zero pathway in a pragmatic, economically aligned manner.”
Ms. Monica Pirgal, CEO, Bhartiya Converge
“By unifying IT services, easing safe harbour norms, and decisively rewarding scale, the government has removed the core friction points that global enterprises faced while expanding in India. The move to a single IT Services framework and predictable margins replaces years of classification ambiguity and tax uncertainty with clarity and confidence. Most notably, raising the safe harbour threshold to ₹2,000 crore signals a powerful shift scale is no longer penalised but actively encouraged. Combined with automated approvals, long-term incentives for cloud and data infrastructure, and a renewed focus on services-led employment and skills, India is no longer competing only on cost. It is positioning itself as the most predictable, scalable, and future-ready global operations hub for enterprises building long-term value”
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Vice Chancellor, World University of Design
“The Budget’s strong push towards the creative and design economy is a welcome step for India’s youth. I have been advocating for this. By expanding AVGC and content creation labs across schools and colleges, the government is opening doors to future-ready careers within the growing creative economy. The proposal to strengthen design education addresses a long-standing talent gap. Together, these measures will nurture creativity, generate meaningful employment, and position India as a global hub for design, content, and innovation”
Mr. Nilanjan Banik, Professor of Economics and Finance, School of Management, Mahindra University
“From a macroeconomic standpoint, Budget 2026 signals continuity and discipline, which markets value. The transition to the Income Tax Act 2025 is a welcome move toward simplicity and transparency for the common taxpayer. By restructuring PFC and REC and forming a high-level committee for ‘Viksit Bharat’ banking, the government is ensuring our financial sector is robust enough to handle global volatility. The push for asset monetization through REITs and the 12.2 lakh crore capex will provide the necessary liquidity to keep the ‘Reform Express’ moving. It is a stable, non-populist budget that prioritizes long-term economic resilience over short-term gains.”
Dr. Yajulu Medury, Vice Chancellor, Mahindra University
“The Union Budget 2026-27 takes a bold step toward making India a global knowledge hub. By focusing on ‘Yuva Shakti’ initiative, the government is bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world careers, especially as the economy becomes more knowledge-driven. India will become a world leader in services sector with 10% share by 2047 due to introduction of high-powered Education-to-Employment Enterprises Standing Committee. The proposal for five new university townships and modular ‘Corporate Mitra’ courses will change how we train our youth for the global market.”
Dr. B. K. Chakravarthy, Dean, School of Design Innovation, Mahindra University
“The Budget’s emphasis on the ‘Anusandhan’ National Research Fund and AI Mission marks a turning point for Indian innovation, where design innovation bridges design thinking and technology to spark breakthroughs. Proposing a new National Institute of Design in East India and supporting high-tech toolrooms for precision manufacturing signals that ‘Made in India’ is evolving into ‘Designed in India’—fusing design with advanced tech for global competitiveness. The focus on Animation, Visual Effects, and Gaming (AVGC) via Mumbai’s Creative Technology labs will supercharge our creative economy by blending artistic design with computational power. Through the Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj Yojana, design innovation integrates cutting-edge technology with traditional craftsmanship, rooting progress in our communities and positioning India as a global leader in the design landscape.”
Mr. Sanjiv Navangul, CEO, BSV (A Mankind Group Company)
“The Union Budget 2026 provides much-deserved momentum for India’s biopharma journey. We welcome the government’s intent to strengthen the biopharma ecosystem, and the Biopharma Shakti initiative is an encouraging step in this direction. The focus on building scale across strategic and frontier sectors creates the right environment for long-term improvements in health outcomes. The initiative recognises the need for innovation and research while creating a conducive ecosystem for good health through knowledge sharing and technology. Alongside this, the emphasis on driving research by setting up new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research will not only build talent but also augment the research capabilities of the country. Strengthening the regulatory landscape through a robust biopharma-focused network, including enhanced capacity and faster approval timelines, will further support innovation and improve patient access. Further, the proposed investment of Rs 10,000 crore over five years, along with the emphasis on domestic production, will go a long way in strengthening supply security and reducing dependence on imports. This aligns with the vision of BSV, as we remain committed to making in India for India and the world. Additionally, the Budget’s proposal to promote India as a global hub for sports goods is also encouraging. Improved access to quality sports equipment can help drive wider participation of women in sports while supporting healthier lifestyles.”
Mr. Rahul Garg, Founder-CEO, Moglix
“The Budget’s emphasis on artificial intelligence, quantum research and innovation-led missions strengthens India’s technology backbone. These investments enable enterprises to deploy AI across manufacturing optimisation, procurement automation and supply chain forecasting. When combined with sectoral programmes such as textile modernisation and industrial cluster rejuvenation, emerging technologies will play a critical role in improving productivity, quality control and operational efficiency across traditional and advanced industries.”
Mr. Manpreet Singh Ahuja, Chief Clients Officer and TMT Leader, PwC India
“Union Budget 2026–27 is a clear signal that India wants to be a producer of digital value. The Budget strengthens the foundations of a future-ready digital economy through three big moves: building global-scale digital infrastructure, deepening ‘trust by design’ in governance, and accelerating talent creation for the next wave of technology-led growth. For the technology ecosystem, the most significant announcement is the intent to make India a global hub for cloud and data infrastructure—via a tax holiday till 2047 for foreign companies providing global cloud services using India-based data centre capacity. This move, coupled with a more predictable tax and compliance regime for IT services, reduces uncertainty, improves capital confidence, and enables faster global scaling for India.”
Ms. Ritu Mehrotra, CEO and Co-Founder, Shunya Labs
“Union Budget 2026’s focus on AI-driven skilling, incentives for sovereign digital infrastructure, and the growth of services exports creates a strong launchpad for Indian deeptech startups. Initiatives such as the AI Impact Panel and tax holidays extending till 2047 will accelerate innovation in privacy-first, multilingual AI solutions, powering the next wave of enterprise adoption across sectors.”
Shunya Labs works at the intersection of AI, speech technology, and privacy-first innovation, and Ritu would be happy to share additional insights if you’re developing a deeper piece on India’s AI and deeptech momentum post Budget.”
Mr. Himanshu Tyagi, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science and co-founder of Sentient
“It’s encouraging to see the Union Budget 2026 reaffirm strong support for the AI Mission and the use of AI as a force multiplier for governance.
India has always created outsized impact at unprecedented scale, often by adapting within complexity rather than waiting for perfect conditions. AI now changes the equation, because intent-driven systems align far more closely with that institutional strength than traditional software.
The focus on jobs and skills is also critical—and open-source AI can help ensure this transition expands opportunity by allowing more builders across India to contribute directly.”
Mr. Harishanker Kannan, CEO & Co-founder of Scalefusion
“With a strong focus on IT services, expansion of data centre infrastructure, cloud adoption, and enabling cross-border digital operations, India’s Union Budget clearly reinforces the country’s ambition to emerge as a leading global digital and technology powerhouse. The policies encouraging cloud innovation, strategic data infrastructure and seamless global connectivity will lay foundation for faster adoption of secure and scalable digital solutions by enterprises around the world. For organisations managing distributed teams and devices, this evolving landscape creates an ideal environment to implement resilient, compliant, and future-ready IT systems at scale, an opportunity we at Scalefusion are proud to help enable.”
Mr. Taranbir Singh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bharat Supply
“The Union Budget 2026–27 seeks to strengthen infrastructure critical for rural and beyond-metro logistics through new Dedicated Freight Corridors, expansion of inland waterways and coastal cargo, domestic container manufacturing, and targeted investment in Tier II and Tier III by establishing a new model – City Economic Regions. For platforms like Bharat Supply, serving over 2 lakh villages, CER-led infrastructure can enable modern fulfilment centres, aggregation hubs and multimodal connectivity closer to production clusters, reducing distance, time and cost for rural supply chains, and improving access from hinterlands to national markets.”
Mr. Ramki Gaddipati, CEO APAC and Global CTO, Zeta
“The proposed High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat is a welcome step as it recognises a reality banks are already living with, that financial stability, consumer protection and technology resilience are inseparable. As banking operates at real-time, population scale, core architecture, cyber resilience and AI governance are now systemic priorities. With public sector banks on stronger balance sheets, this is a moment where governance and technology led reform is not just necessary, but achievable. The real test will be whether this intent translates into coordinated frameworks that strengthen the system as a whole.
The Budget’s push to strengthen domestic cloud and data-centre infrastructure is timely. In real-time banking, infrastructure choices are no longer neutral, they shape risk and trust.
The articulated vision for NBFCs, particularly its emphasis on credit expansion and technology-led efficiency, is also encouraging. As credit deepens through non-bank channels, scalable and transparent technology platforms will be essential to ensure resilience, accountability and responsible growth.
Recognising AI beyond productivity is encouraging. But as AI becomes foundational to fraud prevention, risk management and compliance, adoption alone will not suffice. What will matter is building robust governance frameworks, strong data foundations, and operational resilience to deploy AI safely at scale, without compromising trust.”
Mr. Bruce Keith, CEO & Co-Founder, InvestorAi
“The ongoing fiscal discipline and general move towards tax harmonisation is welcome. Adding more heft and focus on education in a world where AI is changing the rules also makes sense. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was the increases in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options premium by 150% and 50% respectively.
The Government doesn’t like that 90%+ people lose money in F&O so have chosen to make it more expensive. In my view this is the wrong lever to this problem. Better to look at education and AI rather than risk collateral damage from a reduction in big volume players causing liquidity to shrink. The overall market needs this to function.”
Mr. Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures
“India’s service led economy can get disrupted with strong gains in AI and hence govt focus on building India as a powerhouse of strong AI talent is a great step to retain our continued growth in the world economy. This will also increase great flow of capital to India from global tech giants to take advantage of the talent pool while also supporting the indian startup ecosystem. IPV startups like CTPL can really support the government in this initiative.”
Mr. Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
“Indian Semicon is at a very nascent stage and needs a lot of hand holding and policy support, ISM 2.0 will certainly help in mushrooming genuine Semicon use cases and will make India self reliant. Additionally ₹ 40000 CR deployment for electronic components will help resolving supply issues for development. Both the initiatives will help the industry a lot, great policy decision by FM.
The launch of Bharat Vistaar will go a long way in helping the farming sector, the combination of real time data from satellite and AI application can help farmers take informed decisions in improvings farm productivity and also different mix of produce. The announcement of 4 telescope centres will be a big help to astro physics and study the celestial objects and built India’s own self reliant mechanism to study the space and development of respective projects.”
Mr. Manu Iyer, General Partner and Co-founder, Bluehill.VC
“The launch of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 in the Union Budget 2026-27 is a watershed moment for India’s technology and manufacturing landscape. By significantly expanding support for domestic semiconductor equipment, materials, design, and supply-chain capabilities, ISM 2.0 will accelerate India’s journey towards self-reliance in advanced chips and position the country as a globally competitive semiconductor hub. Coupled with the strategic decision to establish dedicated rare earth corridors across mineral-rich states — strengthening mining, processing, research and manufacturing of critical minerals — this Budget not only deepens the foundation for high-tech growth but also enhances supply-chain resilience in sectors from electronics to defense and clean energy. Together, these initiatives will drive innovation, high-skilled employment, and India’s role in resilient global value chains.”
Mr. Hitesh Jirawla, Founder & CEO, Cubictree
“There has been a huge push from the Govt of India to digitise the courts in India, Now with the legal sector standing at the junction of a quantum leap. The convergence of the India AI Mission with ₹ 10,000 Cr+ and the government’s aggressive push for R&D allows us to tackle the ‘Iron Triangle of legal tech: Cost, Speed and Accuracy. Having navigated this landscape for a decade and a half, we see the government’s multiple AI Innovation Fund is not just as a fund, but as a validation that Legal AI is the new infrastructure of a developed India.”
Mr. Pankit Desai, Co founder CEO, Sequretek
“The Union Budget 2026 made the growth of India’s digital economy as one of the core focus area of growth of the economy. With strong GDP numbers already released, the FM focused on several initiatives that can bring more capital in the country. The announcement on raising the safe harbour limit to Rs 2000 crore for IT and ITES companies will benefit the sector immensely.
For IT companies with overseas group entities, the higher ₹300 crore threshold expands access to safe harbour provisions, reducing transfer pricing litigation and tax disputes. In effect, if transactions with overseas affiliates are priced in line with prescribed arm’s-length norms, tax authorities will not challenge the pricing methodology—bringing greater certainty, lower compliance risk, and fewer legal issues.
Additionally, the tax holiday for setting up data centres in India by foreign cloud companies gives out a strong signal as the world looks at India as a major GCC centre. This will also strengthen our technological sovereignty.
The Make in India, Make for the World, has received a further impetus with the ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund that will empower the growth engine of our economy to adopt emerging tech, meet risk capital requirements to become globally competitive. In a nutshell, the Budget this year attempts to lay a path for India to become a global tech powerhouse across manufacturing, services and much more.”
Mr. Sagar Nair, Head of Incubation, LVL Zero Incubator
“The Finance Minister’s announcement reflects a strong commitment to India’s creative economy. With the AVGC sector expected to require nearly two million professionals by 2030, the rollout of content creator labs across 15,000 schools and 500 colleges can expand early access to future-ready skills and inspire students to pursue careers in animation, VFX, gaming, and comics. When skilling is paired with incubation and clear pathways to entrepreneurship, India can cultivate a generation of creators equipped to build original intellectual property and compete globally. This approach can accelerate job creation, strengthen the talent pipeline, and position the country as a leading hub for creative technology and digital content.”
Mr. Manoj Kumar Singh, Director General of the Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA)
“Union Budget 2026 delivers a transformative vision for India’s digital future. The tax holiday until 2047 for cloud providers leveraging Indian data centers is bold policy-making that positions us as a global hub while advancing our $3 trillion digital economy ambition.
What’s truly significant is recognizing digital infrastructure as the great enabler. Robust telecom networks and data centers don’t serve one sector—they power fintech innovations, telemedicine reaching villages, smart manufacturing, AI research, and digital governance. When we strengthen this foundation, we catalyze growth across every economic horizon.
The Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund and Rs 2,000 crore top-up for the Self-Reliant India Fund are the game-changers. Digital infrastructure deployment relies heavily on SMEs and micro enterprises—from tower installation to network maintenance, from fiber laying to equipment manufacturing. These funds will help scale high-potential firms while keeping smaller players viable, creating a resilient supply chain.
The sustainability measures—exempting customs duty on battery storage and solar glass—demonstrate foresight and powering EV. We’re building infrastructure that serves both Viksit Bharat 2047 and Net Zero 2070 commitments. Green data centers and energy-efficient networks define our future.
The mandatory Indian reseller framework ensures technology transfer and capability building. This Budget validates that strengthening our digital backbone enables India’s transformation into a digitally empowered, economically vibrant, and environmentally responsible nation.”
Mr. Nakul Kundra, CEO & Co-Founder, Devnagri
“The Union Budget 2026 strengthens the Government’s initiative to make technology, especially AI, a core driver of India’s next growth phase. Equally encouraging is the Budget’s emphasis on applied technology adoption, from AI-driven customised advisory tools and multilingual platforms like Bharat Vistar, to the use of AI for more efficient, transparent along with data-driven governance and is highly celebrated and reflects a strong commitment to integrating such initiatives at scale. Initiatives such as the ₹10,000 crore MSME Growth Fund and the renewed focus on cities as growth engines can meaningfully democratise AI beyond large enterprises, particularly across manufacturing and public services. That said, real impact will depend on execution, specifically lowering compute costs, expanding domestic data-centre capacity, enabling language-first AI systems, and building high-quality Indian datasets anchored in data dignity, consent, and trust.”
Mr. Raghav Gupta, Founder & CEO, Futurense
“Budget 2026–27 reinforces India’s intent to lead in the AI age by putting talent and capability building at the centre of national progress. The government’s three Kartavya – driving growth, strengthening people’s capacity and ensuring opportunity for all align strongly with the direction in which the technology ecosystem is moving.
The introduction of the Capacity Building AI Missions for 25 crore people, along with support for the National Quantum Mission, Anusandhan Research Fund, and the R&D and Innovation Fund, signals a long term commitment to creating both the talent and the infrastructure required for an AI-native economy. This is not just an investment in technology but an investment in people.
By expanding access to advanced learning and accelerating innovation pathways, the Budget lays the groundwork for a workforce that can build, deploy and lead with AI across global industries. It opens the door for deeper industry, academia collaboration and a future defined by capability, confidence, and opportunity.”
Mr. Kishan Sundar, SVP and Chief Technology Officer, Maveric Systems
“Union Budget 2026 makes it clear that AI and IT services will play a central role in shaping the next phase of India’s banking and financial services growth. As credit demand remains strong and banks operate under tighter funding and regulatory conditions, the emphasis on digital infrastructure, AI-led innovation and technology-enabled productivity is both timely and necessary.
The Budget’s focus on strengthening IT services and deepening digital capabilities provides added momentum for banks to accelerate AI adoption across credit decisioning, risk management, compliance and customer engagement. With increasing system complexity and scale, AI-driven automation and data-led decisioning are becoming essential for banks to grow responsibly while improving efficiency and resilience. Overall, the Budget reinforces technology as a foundational pillar for sustainable growth in the banking ecosystem.”
Mr. Amit Bajoria, Chief Financial Officer, Virtusa Corporation
“Budget 2026 delivers a major structural boost to the Indian IT services sector by consolidating service categories, expanding and simplifying safe harbour tax provisions, accelerating APA processes, and offering long-term incentives for cloud and data centre investments — all aimed at enhancing global competitiveness and easing compliance for domestic and multinational IT firms. Its focus on services-led growth, skilling, STEM capacity, and continued emphasis on semiconductor and digital infrastructure development provides clearer signals for how enterprises plan workforce readiness, engineering depth, and long-term talent sustainability.”
Mr. CP Gurnani, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, AIONOS
“Union Budget 2026 signals a decisive shift in how India is approaching technology, from adoption to strategic capability building. The emphasis on AI, semiconductors, cloud and data infrastructure reflects a clear understanding that leadership in the digital economy is built bottom-up, starting with strong foundations. The strengthening of the India AI Mission provides a coordinated framework to accelerate AI research, deployment and ethical governance across sectors. Importantly, this is not a narrow tech agenda. By aligning AI investments with skilling, workforce readiness and MSME enablement, the Budget recognises that scale, inclusion and competitiveness must move together.
Equally important is the focus on preparing for AI’s impact on the services sector. For a country where services drive growth and employment, anticipating change is far more responsible than reacting to disruption. Incentives for digital infrastructure and hardware ecosystems position India as a credible destination for global investment.
As technology becomes central to economic growth, its true impact lies in how inclusively it is applied. Initiatives like Bharat Vistar, which provides farmers local-language, data-driven crop guidance, and the Centre of Excellence in AI for Education, which promotes research into AI tools for improving the quality of learning, demonstrate how technology can create meaningful impact where it matters most.
Taken together, these measures reflect India’s ambition to move from being a large consumer of technology to a trusted global platform for AI-led innovation, grounded in talent, infrastructure and real outcomes.”
Mr. Amit Sharma, Founder & Whole Time Director, Matrix Geo Solutions
“The Union Budget 2026–27 sends a clear signal that India’s next phase of infrastructure growth will be driven as much by data and precision as by physical assets. With record capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore and a strong focus on transport, urban development, water systems, and digital ecosystems, infrastructure planning and execution are set to become more technology-led and outcome-focused. Large corridor projects, smart cities, flood mitigation, and logistics networks increasingly depend on accurate terrain models, authoritative base maps, and real-time geospatial intelligence to reduce risk and accelerate delivery. Continued policy support for drones, space technologies, and artificial intelligence reinforces the shift from static 2D drawings to integrated 3D and 4D planning environments. For project owners, PSUs, and EPC players, survey-grade, decision-ready geospatial data will now be as critical as construction itself. At Matrix Geo Solutions, we see this Budget as an execution accelerator, where precision, integration of engineering with GIS, and digital continuity from planning to operations will define timely, resilient, and cost-effective infrastructure delivery.”
Mr. Vishak Raman, Vice President of Sales, India, SAARC, SEA & ANZ, Fortinet
“Budget 2026 reflects India’s intent to strengthen its position as a trusted hub for digital services, cloud, and advanced technologies. Steps to simplify the IT services framework, encourage data center investments, and push wider AI adoption are aimed at building long-term competitiveness. At the same time, as digital infrastructure scales, complexity, and cyber risk increase. Cyber risk today is continuous, not episodic, and organizations need to plan for resilience as a core business requirement. Embedding security into digital foundations will be critical to protecting data, ensuring continuity, and maintaining trust as India’s digital economy continues to expand.”
Ms. Jyoti Sharma, CEO, Nasscom Foundation
“The Yuva Shakti- driven Budget sets a strong and timely direction for India’s next phase of growth by placing youth and inclusive growth through technology-driven initiatives at the centre of national development. We welcome the proposed ‘Education to Employment and Enterprise’ Standing Committee, which recognises the need for a cohesive, outcomes-driven approach especially for the services sector and the evolving impact of AI on jobs. This signals a continued focus and strengthening of our skilling ecosystem through an integrated employability framework that closely aligns with Nasscom Foundation’s mission of building a future-ready, inclusive talent pool for India.
We are also encouraged by the Budget’s focus on empowering marginalized communities. The creation of Self-Help Entrepreneur (SHE) Marts marks a meaningful transition from livelihood support to women-led enterprise ownership, positioning women as key drivers of local economic growth. Alongside this, initiatives such as the Divyang Kaushal Yojana strengthen the pathway for inclusive skilling and dignified livelihoods for Persons with Disabilities, an area central to our work at the grassroots.
Overall, the Budget 2026-27, with its emphasis on youth, skills, MSMEs, technology and expanded opportunities in Tier II and Tier III India, strongly resonates with our vision of bridging the digital divide and advancing towards a Viksit Bharat.”
Mr. Sanjay Lodha, CMD at Netweb Technologies
“The Union Budget 2026–27 rightly places technology and services at the centre of India’s growth strategy, emphasizing that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence will drive jobs, innovation, and exports in the years ahead. By proposing a high-powered committee to unlock the full potential of the services sector and assess how technologies like AI will impact jobs and skills, the government is laying the groundwork for a future-ready economy. The goal of making India a global leader in services exports by 2047 reflects a long-term vision that aligns strongly with industry aspirations. India’s ambition to move from being a software-led economy to a full-stack technology nation.
This Budget reinforces our belief that strong digital and compute infrastructure, alongside accessible AI capabilities, will be critical to India’s competitiveness. As businesses, government institutions, and academia increasingly adopt AI, high-performance computing, AI-ready data centres, and purpose-built technology platforms will become essential enablers for real-world deployment at scale.
The emphasis on skills and education also highlights the growing need for AI lab infrastructure, where students, researchers, and professionals can gain hands-on experience with advanced compute and AI systems. Building such AI labs and research environments is crucial to translating policy intent into practical capability, and this is an area where domestic technology infrastructure plays a key role.
Budget 2026–27’s focus on supporting emerging technologies, expanding digital infrastructure, and generating skilled jobs across sectors such as IT, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and education will accelerate digital transformation. These initiatives will not only help Indian technology firms innovate faster but also strengthen the broader IT and services ecosystem by creating high-value employment, enhancing global exports, and driving productivity gains across industries.
Netweb remains committed to partnering with government, industry, and academia to build secure, scalable, and home-grown AI and high-performance computing infrastructure, including AI labs and advanced computing platforms, that empower India’s digital economy and support the country’s vision of inclusive, technology-led growth.”
Mr. Aditya Prabhu, CEO & Co-Founder, Secutech Automation
“The Finance Minister’s Union Budget 2026 presentation reinforces a critical shift in India’s growth narrative, where digital transformation, AI adoption, and infrastructure expansion are moving in tandem. While it also continues a strong focus on infrastructure-led growth, with capex increased to ₹12.2 lakh crore, the emphasis on emerging technologies, R&D, and financial sector reforms creates a stronger foundation for enterprises and public institutions to invest in intelligent, automated security systems from the outset, rather than as an afterthought.
As India scales smart infrastructure across cities, transport, manufacturing, and public services, integrated security will increasingly become an embedded layer of operational resilience. The focus on technology-led efficiency and improved credit flow can accelerate the adoption of AI-driven, interoperable security platforms, particularly among MSMEs and infrastructure operators.
No doubt, it’s a clear signal that technology-first, resilient systems will underpin India’s next phase of growth. For the security automation ecosystem, this is an opportunity to align closely with national priorities around digital trust, system reliability, and future-ready infrastructure.”
Mr. Ajay Setia, CEO & Founder, Invincible Ocean
“The Union Budget 2026 signals a clear intent to move India from being a technology consumer to a technology creator. The continued focus on artificial intelligence, deep tech research, capacity-building missions, and national innovation frameworks shows that the government now recognises emerging technologies as core economic infrastructure, not optional experiments. Initiatives around AI skilling, research funding, quantum technologies, and innovation-led growth are a step forward compared to previous years. That said, this is a beginning, not a culmination. While the direction is encouraging, the real impact will depend on how quickly these missions translate into accessible compute infrastructure, industry–academia collaboration, startup capital, and deployment at scale across sectors like governance, healthcare, manufacturing, and finance. Budget 2026 creates the right momentum; the next phase must focus on execution, depth, and continuity to truly unlock India’s deep-tech potential.”
Mr. Raj K Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder & CEO, KOGO AI
“The 2026-27 Union Budget marks the moment India officially stops participating in the global AI hype cycle and starts architecting its own Sovereign Economic Moat. For too long, the narrative has been about “AI adoption.” This budget changes the conversation to owning it. It is a defining moment where India has started treating AI as a Sovereign AI Economic Strategy. The budget doesn’t just fund AI-linked growth, but offers a fertile ground for a uniquely Indian AI ecosystem that prioritizes real-world deployment over speculative frontier models.
The vision to establish an AI Economic Council and the “Sovereign AI-OS” initiative is a masterstroke in strategic autonomy. By focusing on a bottom-up, application-driven approach instead of chasing centralized compute power, the government is ensuring India’s AI evolution is grounded in the structural realities of capital efficiency, human diversity, and localized problem-solving.
The tax-holiday for data centers until 2047 provides the long-term fiscal certainty needed to bring the world’s “compute gravity” to India. This, coupled with the ISM 2.0 semiconductor push, creates a full-stack environment where Indian IP can be built on Indian hardware.
What is particularly resonant for KOGO is the focus on Bharat-VISTAAR and its integration with the National Mission on Natural Farming. This is the “force multiplier” in action, where multilingual, voice-first AI can be used to deliver customized advisory to millions of farmers. It proves that our path to Sovereign AI leadership is through inclusion, not just scale.
Furthermore, the focus on the “Education to Employment and Enterprise” framework and the “Earn and Learn” initiative acknowledges a shifting reality: to be an AI power, we must prepare future generations to be able to work in an AI-driven world. By embedding AI into the school curriculum and creating a dedicated AI Safety Institute, India is building a resilient ecosystem that balances innovation with public interest safeguards.
With the removal of export hurdles for SMEs and the infusion of high-velocity risk capital through the Growth Funds of ₹10,000 crore, the message is clear: India is no longer the back office of the tech world. We are now its Sovereign Front Office, architecting AI solutions that are decentralized, interoperable, and undeniably world-class.”
In A Nutshell
Most ICT and technology industry leaders believe the Union Budget 2026–27, presented by Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, outlines a strong and future-focused roadmap for India’s growth. The emphasis on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and cloud ecosystems is expected to strengthen domestic manufacturing and innovation. Enhanced support for MSMEs through dedicated funds, simplified taxation, and improved credit access will boost entrepreneurship and competitiveness. The focus on skilling, education, and creative sectors aims to prepare a future-ready workforce. Overall, the industry feels the Budget lays a solid foundation for a self-reliant, digitally empowered, and globally competitive India.
Covered By: NCN MAGAZINE / Union Budget 2026
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