Budget lacks targeted measures for MSMEs; calls for GST restructuring, value-added incentives and an emergency relief fund.
The budget is criticised for lacking specific measures for MSMEs: collateral-free loans are not effectively implemented, raw material price controls have not worked, and stakeholders urge GST restructuring toward a value-added model plus a Value Added Incentive similar to PLIs. The Association demands an Emergency Relief Fund to shield MSMEs from external shocks and links targeted support to employment protection.

Securities Transaction Tax hike on futures and options aims to curb speculative F&O trading and address systemic risk.
The Budget raises STT on futures from 0.02% to 0.05% and on options premium and exercise to 0.15% (from 0.1% and 0.125%). The stated aim is to discourage speculative, high-volume F&O trading and handle systemic risk in derivatives by increasing transaction costs for active and short-term strategies, while targeting derivative markets rather than cash equities. The move may marginally reduce foreign portfolio investor flows and prompted an immediate market reaction.

Information and Broadcasting allocations include Rs 2291.88 crore for Prasar Bharati and Rs 250 crore for AVGC talent development.
The Budget allocates Rs 4,551.94 crore to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, with Rs 2,291.88 crore for Prasar Bharati (salaries and pensions), Rs 1,476.83 crore for information and publicity, Rs 509.24 crore for Broadcasting Infrastructure Network Development to support digitalisation, FMisation and DTH upgradation, Rs 344.55 crore for filmic content development, Rs 250 crore for AVGC talent development (labs in 15,000 schools and 500 colleges), Rs 250 crore for information dissemination, Rs 8 crore for community radio, and various institutional grants including Rs 111.22 crore for Northeastern social services.

Union Budget 2026-27 touted as welfare blueprint but criticised for favouring businesses and lacking public tax relief.
The Union Budget 2026-27 prioritises youth employment, agricultural support, manufacturing, MSME and startup promotion, rural development, and investments in infrastructure, education and healthcare, including allocation of two high-speed rail corridors to strengthen regional connectivity and investment; critics counter that it favors business and affluent sectors, provides no meaningful tax relief for the general public amid inflation, and serves partisan interests rather than addressing unemployment and widespread cost pressures.

Missing man reunited with family after police operation used technical leads, human intel and social media traces.
Police, under a designated outreach campaign, reopened a cold missing-persons case from 2016 and used technical investigation, human intelligence and social media tracing, together with inter-jurisdictional follow-up, to locate the adult and reunite him with his family.

Union Budget 2026-27 criticised as directionless, cutting subsidies and allocations and harming the common people.
The Chief Minister criticised the Union Budget 2026-27 as directionless and lacking benefits for the public and her state, alleging cuts to education, social security, and fertiliser subsidies and warning these reductions would derail the economy. She asserted the Budget repeated previously announced infrastructure projects without new spending, disputed the novelty of proposed economic corridors, and linked sharp stock market declines to the Budget's content.

Union Budget lacks coherent vision and specifics, raising concerns on jobs, state funding, welfare clarity, and trade impacts.
Shashi Tharoor criticised the Union Budget as lacking a coherent vision and substantive specifics, with little indication of how employment will be generated. He highlighted unchanged fiscal devolution at 41 percent and state resource shortfalls, cited absence of concrete project allocations or location details for new institutions, and expressed disappointment over unspecified welfare measures and funding clarity for rural employment guarantees. Tharoor also noted trade concerns arising from US tariffs and uncertainty about when a newly announced EU trade arrangement will come into force.

AYUSH budget rises 20% with new institutes, upgraded labs, and increased National AYUSH Mission funding.
Budgetary provision for the national traditional medicine portfolio increases materially, with AYUSH allocation raised 20 per cent to Rs 4,408.93 crore for FY 2026-27 and proposals to establish three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda, upgrade AYUSH pharmacies and drug-testing labs to strengthen the certification ecosystem, and enhance the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre at Jamnagar. The National AYUSH Mission is increased to Rs 1,300 crore, while allocations for the All India Institute of Ayurveda and the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda are reduced.

Capital expenditure set at Rs 12.22 lakh crore for FY27, 4.4% of GDP; fiscal deficit target 4.3%.
The government set the capital expenditure for FY27 at Rs 12.22 lakh crore (4.4% of GDP), a 10% rise over FY26 capex, and affirmed a fiscal deficit target of 4.3% of GDP, framing elevated public investment alongside a specified deficit ceiling.

Union Home Ministry receives large budget allocations funding central police forces, border infrastructure, and security modernisation programs.
The Union Budget 2026-27 allocates Rs 255,233.53 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs, directing Rs 173,802.53 crore to Central Armed Police Forces (CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB, Assam Rifles) with itemised CAPF figures and additional BSF Air Wing funding. It also funds intelligence and metropolitan policing (IB, Delhi Police, SPG), Jammu and Kashmir policing, modernisation and infrastructure (State police modernisation, CAPF modernisation, border infrastructure, police infrastructure), Security Related Expenditure for LWE areas, and programmatic allocations for women's safety, prisons, Vibrant Villages, the Census and autonomous security institutions.

Union Budget will boost incomes of poor families, farmers and small businesses through targeted agricultural and handicraft initiatives.
The Union Budget prioritises raising living standards for poor families, labourers, farmers, women and students by enhancing earning opportunities and accelerating economic growth. It includes targeted measures to increase incomes of farmers and small business owners through promotion of crops and allied activities (cashew, walnut, almond, coconut, coffee, fish farming) and special provisions for khadi, handlooms and handicrafts to benefit weavers and traditional artisans.

MSME support: Rs 10,000 crore growth fund plus TReDS liquidity measures, credit guarantees and compliance support announced.
Budget establishes a three pronged MSME programme: a Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund and Rs 2,000 crore top up to the Self Reliant India Fund for equity support; liquidity measures leveraging TReDS-mandating TReDS for CPSE purchases, CGTMSE credit guarantees for invoice discounting, GeM TReDS integration, and TReDS receivables as asset backed securities; and professional support through accredited para professionals to assist MSME compliance. Administrative reforms include extended timelines for revised returns, simplified TDS for manpower supply, and converting procedural penalties into fees.

Union Budget 2026-27 advances employment, healthcare, rural growth, industrial investment, and measures to reduce consumer prices.
Union Budget 2026-27 prioritises employment generation via support for startups, MSMEs, manufacturing, tourism and local industries, and major infrastructure investments including high-speed rail corridors, waterways, textile parks and mineral corridors to drive industrial growth and jobs. It allocates significant capital to strategic sectors-including a semiconductor mission and a biopharma fund to lower medicine costs-while advancing rural development through agricultural technology, animal husbandry, credit-linked entrepreneurship for women and expanded education access. Healthcare commitments include district hospital upgrades, emergency centres, regional medical tourism hubs and promotion of mental health and traditional medicine, alongside tax simplification and measures expected to reduce consumer prices.

Union Budget advances urban development fund, municipal bond concession, sectoral incentives and tax changes affecting healthcare affordability.
The Union Budget allocates a Rs 12 lakh crore city development fund and a Rs 100 crore municipal bond concession to accelerate tier two and tier three urbanisation, announces Mumbai-Pune and Pune-Hyderabad high speed rail corridors, provides Rs 40,000 crore for semiconductors and Rs 10,000 crore for biopharma to boost manufacturing, and implements a simplified income tax regime alongside reduced import duties on medicines for chronic diseases to improve healthcare affordability.

Customs duty exemptions for nuclear power, battery storage, sodium antimonate and biogas blended CNG aim to boost clean energy.
Proposals include zero basic customs duty on capital goods for manufacture of lithium ion cells for Battery Energy Storage Systems; exemption of basic customs duty on imported sodium antimonate used in solar glass manufacture (currently 7.5%); extension of basic customs duty exemption for goods for Nuclear Power Projects until 2035 and expansion to all nuclear plants irrespective of capacity; and exclusion of the value of biogas when calculating central excise on biogas blended CNG to support bioenergy uptake.

Tax holiday for foreign cloud providers using Indian data centres to serve global customers, with reseller and safe harbour rules.
A tax holiday until 2047 is offered to foreign companies providing cloud services globally using Indian data centres, provided they serve Indian customers through an Indian reseller entity; a 15% safe harbour on cost applies where the data centre services provider is a related entity.

Budget 2026-27 customs regime waives duty on 17 cancer drugs and eases baggage and personal import duties.
Budget 2026-27 establishes a trust-based customs regime with a single-window for cargo clearances, reduced verification for regular importers, expanded AEO payment norms, AI-assisted port scanning, and a two-year rollout of a Customs Integrated System; it extends advance rulings' binding period to five years and allows dispute settlement by payment in lieu of penalty. The Budget waives customs duty on 17 cancer drugs, reduces tariff on personal-use imports from 20% to 10% (excluding motor vehicles, alcohol, tobacco), revises baggage duty-free allowances, and reforms customs warehousing toward warehouse-operator centric self-declarations, electronic tracking, and risk-based audits.

Union Budget 2026 offers no policy vision and neglects farmers, disadvantaged groups, and stressed state finances.
The Union Budget 2026 is criticised for lacking a coherent policy vision and failing to propose substantive measures for economic, social, and political challenges. It reportedly provides no income security plan for farmers, omits targeted support for disadvantaged communities, and does not appear to relieve stressed state finances, raising concerns about fiscal federalism. Administratively, the Budget raises the capital expenditure target to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY27 and includes infrastructure measures for smaller cities.

Indian non residents permitted to invest in domestic equities via Portfolio Investment Scheme; higher individual and aggregate limits.
The government proposes permitting Individual Persons Resident Outside India (PROI) to invest in equity instruments of listed Indian companies through the Portfolio Investment Scheme, increasing the individual PROI limit from five percent to ten percent and raising the aggregate cap for all individual PROIs from ten percent to twenty four percent.

Rare earth corridors to support mining, processing, research and manufacturing in Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The Budget proposes seven High-Speed Rail corridors, including Hyderabad-Chennai and Chennai-Bengaluru, and proposes dedicated Rare Earth Corridors to support mining, processing, research and manufacturing in Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, alongside environmental and cultural initiatives such as an ecologically sustainable mountain trail in Podhigai Malai, bird-watching trails along Pulikat Lake, and development of the Adichanallur archaeological site.