Post Budget Perspectives - The Tech and Finance Worlds
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
The tech industry leaders have welcomed the Budget 2026 recently presented by the GoI. They see this Budget as bringing many new opportunities to the tech leaders in manufacturing as well as IT services. This is because the Budget visualises the future of Indian economy as an instrument to mould the country as a tech-first system.
Following are some comments from tech industry -
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.
--Harishanker Kannan, CEO & Co-founder, Scalefusion
"The government’s proposal to set up the ‘Education to Employment and Enterprise’ Standing Committee is a forward-looking initiative that recognises the importance of building a workforce equipped for the evolving services economy. By focusing on skill development, emerging technologies like AI and employability, this initiative can help bridge the gap between education and industry requirements, enabling talent to be future-ready. For Sona Group, it presents an opportunity to contribute to shaping programs that develop industry-aligned skills, ensuring sustainable employment and growth across the sector.
At the same time, Safe Harbour provisions and renewed incentives for SEZs create a stable and predictable environment for GCCs and service sector enterprises. These measures encourage long-term investment, support enterprise growth, and enhance confidence in India’s services ecosystem.
While the Budget could have included some big bang reforms, it provides long-term direction, with a thrust on electronics, semiconductors, and data centre development in the technology space. The focus on the AYUSH health sector is welcome and is expected to be a major growth centre in employment and exports. Initiatives in marine and seaplane manufacturing will also give a boost to tourism.
Together, these developments signal a solutions-oriented approach that addresses both talent creation and enterprise enablement. By fostering skill development and providing a conducive business environment, they lay the foundation for accelerated growth, higher employment and global competitiveness. We see this as a strong step towards India’s vision of becoming a leading services hub by 2047, where innovation, investment and capable talent work hand in hand to drive sustainable and inclusive growth."
--Thyagu Valliappa, Founder, SCALE/ Vice Chairman, Sona Valliappa Group
“Budget 2026 introduces a few important clarifications that are relevant for companies operating at the intersection of AI, digital services and workforce platforms. The explicit treatment of manpower services under contractor TDS removes an area of ambiguity that enterprises and talent platforms have navigated for years.
The continued emphasis on AI as core digital infrastructure, along with references to ethical AI, skills mapping, and responsible technology adoption, reflects the direction in which the ecosystem is moving.
At Troogue.ai, we have been building with this exact reality in mind, enabling enterprises to access domain expertise on demand through a compliant, structured, and evaluation-driven platform. These developments create a more enabling environment for models like ours to operate with greater clarity and confidence.”
--Madhu Rajputra Peravalli, Co-founder, Troogue
“The Union Budget 2026–27 reflects a responsible, growth-oriented approach to strengthening India’s position in the global digital and manufacturing economy, with a clear focus on long-term value creation. Anchored in the three Kartavyas of infrastructure development, capability-building and economic security, the Budget recognises that leadership in the AI era will be shaped by sustained investments in physical, digital, and knowledge infrastructure.
The strong emphasis on capital expenditure, including allocations for IT, telecom, and high-tech manufacturing, alongside the enhanced outlay under India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, signals a decisive push toward building a resilient semiconductor and advanced manufacturing ecosystem. These measures create the foundation for AI-enabled manufacturing, embedded systems, and next-generation engineering-led innovation.
The focus on Cloud and datacentre infrastructure, supported by long-term tax incentives and safe harbour clarity, further strengthens India’s attractiveness as a global base for digital and AI-led services. The consolidation of IT and IT-enabled services into a unified sector complements this vision by improving ease of doing business and policy predictability. For companies like Happiest Minds, this reinforces our belief that sustainable AI success will be human-led built on responsible innovation, continuous skilling, and deep industry government collaboration.”
"Look past the soundbites; this Budget matters because it changes the day-to-day economics of building here. If compute, data access and predictable compliance become easier and cheaper as you scale, you turn privacy and regulation from a cost-centre into a trust asset, and that is the difference between a hopeful startup and a sustainable company. For founders the immediate test is not the headline allocation but whether the Budget lowers the friction of growth, talent, infrastructure and clear rules, so Indian builders can compete, not just begin."
--Ibrahim H Khatri, FIP, CIPP/E, CIPM
“The Union Budget 2026 sends a clear signal that India is serious about building a globally competitive, deep-tech and manufacturing-driven startup ecosystem. The expansion of patient capital is to be done through MSME Growth Funds, focused investments in AI, semiconductors and frontier technologies. The emphasis on rare earths and advanced manufacturing will directly benefit start-ups graduating from incubation.
At iCreate, we see this as a powerful enabler for research-to-commercialisation and for nurturing start-ups in EVs, drones, clean energy and hardware innovation. The push towards Tier-II and Tier-III regions through talent and employment frameworks will further democratise entrepreneurship and strengthen India’s innovation backbone.”
--Avinash Punekar, CEO, iCreate
These comments show that the leaders see the Budget as an integrating instrument between tech industry and finance mechanisms. They are optimistic that this Budget shall give a growth to the economy by using the finance segment for the tech industry, so that tech businesses can grow.
How exactly this is played out shall depend upon the manner in which these policies are implemented. It remains to be seen how the government will execute this blueprint in real life.
