Budget expands veterinary training and develops 500 water bodies to boost fisheries, livestock entrepreneurship and rural incomes.
Budget 2026 proposes a loan-linked capital subsidy scheme to expand veterinary capacity by over 20,000 and to fund private veterinary colleges, hospitals, diagnostic labs and breeding facilities, alongside a credit-linked subsidy to promote animal husbandry entrepreneurship and integrated livestock value chains; it also mandates integrated development of 500 reservoirs and Amrit Sarovars for fisheries and targeted promotion programmes for coconut, cashew, cocoa, sandalwood and hill-region orchard rejuvenation.

Budget proposes higher Securities Transaction Tax on commodity futures and treating buyback proceeds as capital gains.
The Budget proposes raising the Securities Transaction Tax on commodity futures from 0.02% to 0.05%, increasing derivative trading costs and likely dampening foreign portfolio investor flows, especially among high-frequency and derivative-focused funds. It also proposes that buyback proceeds be taxed as capital gains for all shareholders, altering the tax treatment of share repurchases and affecting shareholder after-tax returns.

Medical tourism: proposal to create five regional medical hubs integrating clinical care, AYUSH, research, and rehabilitation.
A budgetary scheme will support states, in partnership with the private sector, to establish five regional medical hubs as integrated complexes combining clinical care, medical education and research, AYUSH centres, medical value tourism facilitation units, and diagnostics, post care and rehabilitation infrastructure; complementary measures include three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda, upgraded AYUSH pharmacies and drug-testing labs, and enhancement of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar.

Tax exemptions on capital goods for lithium ion cell manufacturing extended; biogas excluded from blended CNG excise calculation.
The proposal extends basic customs duty exemption for capital goods used to manufacture lithium ion cells and for capital goods processing critical minerals, exempts basic customs duty on import of "sodium anti Monet" for solar glass manufacture, and excludes the full value of biogas when calculating central excise duty on biogas blended CNG.

Cargo clearance approvals processed via single window by year-end; customs validity extended and duty exemption for fish catch.
Cargo clearance approvals will be consolidated into a single window mechanism by year-end. The validity of advance periods binding on Customs will be extended from three years to five years. Customs duty will be exempted on fish catch by Indian fishing vessels in the exclusive economic zone or high seas. Baggage clearance provisions for international travel will be revised to address genuine passenger concerns.

Leather exports: duty-free inputs, extended export period, and customs exemptions announced to boost competitiveness.
Proposal to allow duty-free imports of specified inputs for the leather exports sector, extend the export period for final leather and textile garment products from six months to one year, and exempt parts used to manufacture microwave ovens from basic customs duty; measures also include support to scale up production at the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India and development of 15 archaeological sites.

Tax holiday for foreign cloud providers using India data centres until 2047, subject to Indian reseller and localisation conditions.
A fiscal incentive proposes a tax holiday for foreign companies that provide cloud services globally using India-based data centre services until 2047, conditioned on use of Indian data centres and a requirement that services to Indian customers be delivered through an Indian reseller entity.

Buyback proceeds will be taxed as capital gains; STT on commodity futures raised and MAT made final at 14%.
Buyback proceeds will be taxed as capital gains for all shareholders; Securities Transaction Tax on commodity futures raised to 0.05 per cent; Minimum Alternate Tax to be final tax reduced to 14 per cent; a joint panel will consider incorporation of income computation and disclosure standards; and a National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid is proposed.

Minimum Alternate Tax exemption proposed for non-residents on presumptive tax; safe harbour threshold and other tax rules adjusted.
Proposal exempts Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) for non-residents who pay tax on a presumptive basis, removes MAT application on such incomes, raises the safe harbour threshold for IT services from Rs 300 crore to Rs 2,000 crore, rationalises tax collected at source to 2% for liquor, scrap and mineral, refines the definition of accountants for safe harbour rules, and allows inter cooperative society dividend income as a deduction under the new tax regime.

Foreign asset disclosure scheme for small taxpayers offers six-month window; no interest on penalties during first appeal.
A six-month foreign asset disclosure scheme is proposed for small taxpayers such as students, tech professionals and relocated NRIs. No interest will be charged on penalty amounts for the period of appeal before the first appellate authority, irrespective of outcome. Dividend income received by notified cooperatives on investments made up to January 31, 2026, is proposed to be exempt for three years.

Income Tax Act 2025 starts April 1, simplifies rules, adopts a single tax year and allows TDS refunds on late returns.
The Income Tax Act, 2025 takes effect April 1 with rules and redesigned return forms to be notified; it is revenue neutral with no rate changes, halves the text and sections of prior law, adopts a single tax year framework in place of assessment/previous year distinctions, and permits TDS refund claims on late-filed returns without penal charges.

Union Budget projects fiscal deficit at 4.3% of GDP and implements the Income Tax Act, 2025 from April 1.
The Budget projects a fiscal deficit of 4.3 per cent of GDP for 2026 27 (down from 4.4 per cent), sets the Budget at Rs 53.5 lakh crore with net tax receipts of Rs 28.7 lakh crore and Rs 1.4 lakh crore tax devolution to states, and announces implementation of the Income Tax Act, 2025 from April 1 with rules and return forms to be notified.

Income tax: revised return deadline extended to March 31; certain TCS rates reduced; MACT awards exempted.
Extension of the revised income tax return filing deadline from December 31 to March 31 on payment of a nominal fee; introduction of a rule-based automated compliance process for small taxpayers in FY27; reduction of TCS to 2% for education and medical remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme and to 2% on sale of overseas tour packages (down from 5%); and exemption of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awards from income tax.

India to host Global Big Cat Summit with ministers from 95 range countries to plan coordinated conservation strategies.
India will host the inaugural Global Big Cat Summit convening heads of government and ministers from 95 range countries to formulate collective conservation strategies following the establishment of the International Big Cat Alliance, promoting coordinated action, policy exchange, and collaborative resource mobilisation for big cat protection.

Government proposes lower debt-to-GDP ratio and allocates funds for economic regions and social schemes, with tax devolution retained.
Proposal to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to 55.6% in FY27 is paired with a Rs 5,000 crore, five-year allocation for City Economic Regions. The Budget retains a 41% tax devolution formula per finance commission recommendations and includes programmatic funding for a Buddhist circuit in the Northeast and support to scale assisted-devices manufacturing.

Union Budget: establish five university townships near logistics hubs and one girls' hostel in every district.
The Union Budget proposes establishment of five university townships adjacent to major industrial logistics hubs; provision of one girls' hostel in every district; and support to the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai, to set up content labs in 15,000 secondary schools.

Government develops corporate mitras cadre to assist MSMEs with compliance at affordable costs in Tier II and Tier III cities.
The government will establish a cadre of corporate mitras in Tier II and Tier III cities to help MSMEs meet compliance requirements at affordable cost, with professional institutions tasked to design short term modular courses and practical tools to develop the cadre.

Individual persons residing outside India permitted equity investments in listed companies; investment limit raised to 10%.
Permits individual persons residing outside India to make equity investments in listed Indian companies through the portfolio investment scheme and raises the PROI investment limit to 10% from 5%; proposes a framework to provide suitable access to funds and to permit derivatives on corporate bond indices to deepen capital market instruments and liquidity.

Government to create 1,000+ accredited clinical trial sites while launching credit-linked subsidies and agri AI integration.
The government will establish a national network of over 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites to broaden and standardise trial capacity beyond major cities. Concurrently, a credit-linked subsidy programme for livestock farmer producer organisations, the Bharat Vistar multilingual AI tool to integrate the agri stack, and community-owned She Marts retail outlets will be introduced to support agri-livestock value chains and market access.

Medical tourism hubs proposed alongside Biopharma Shakti to boost domestic biologics production and clinical trial networks.
Establish five regional medical hubs as integrated healthcare complexes combining clinical care, education and research, and launch Biopharma Shakti with a Rs 10,000 crore, five-year outlay to build domestic biologics and biosimilars capacity, create three new NIPERs and upgrade seven, establish 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites, and strengthen the central drug standards control organisation with a dedicated scientific review cadre for global-standard approvals.