The Union Budget 2026-27, to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2026 (at 11 AM IST), arrives as India advances its Viksit Bharat agenda amid global volatility and domestic priorities like digitization, manufacturing scale-up, compliance simplification, and climate adaptation. With the Budget Session underway since January 28, 2026, industry experts from technology, auto accessories, corporate travel/events, and parametric insurance are sharing targeted pre-budget expectations focused on regulatory clarity, GST reforms, skilling, localization, and proactive disaster resilience.
These voices highlight the need for policies that enable long-term digital transformation, ease compliance burdens, boost manufacturing competitiveness, and introduce innovative financial tools for climate risks.
Technology Sector Calls for Predictable Regulation and Skilling Support
Mr. Krishnan Venkateswaran, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Titan Company Ltd., emphasized: “The Union Budget’s relevance to technology will lie in how clearly it supports long-term, platform-led transformation rather than isolated technology adoption. The sector is eyeing predictability especially in areas such as data governance, AI regulation, and digital skilling, as these determine how confidently India Inc. can invest in scalable, integrated, and AI-enabled enterprise platforms. Clarity on data and compliance expectations is critical. Policies that strengthen formalisation, traceability, and transparency directly influence how organizations design their core platforms and how data is captured, governed, reconciled, and made usable across brands and functions. These are not incremental decisions as they will shape the durability of digital foundations over multiple business cycles.
We are also expecting the budget to support consumption and manufacturing priorities. Measures that sustain demand reinforce investments in customer experience, analytics, and scalable digital front ends will be instrumental. Additionally manufacturing-focused initiatives will help accelerate investments in automation, real-time visibility, and connected operations across factories and supplier ecosystems. From a technology standpoint, sustained emphasis on large-scale skilling and upskilling is equally important. Building internal capability alongside partnerships with established and emerging technology providers will propel responsible AI adoption at scale.
Overall, the Budget’s approach to regulation, skills, and enterprise digitisation plays a defining role in how India Inc. sequences technology investments, chooses platforms, and builds resilience.”
Auto and Auto Ancillaries Seek Continuity in Infrastructure and Localization Push
Mr. Sidhartha Khurana, Managing Director, STUDDS Accessories Ltd., noted: “As the auto industry continues to evolve, the Union Budget 2026 comes at a crucial time, especially after a strong recovery driven by GST 2.0 reforms that have improved compliance and strengthened supply chains. Sustained focus on infrastructure development, support for domestic manufacturing and skill upgradation will be key to maintaining growth momentum across the auto and auto ancillary sector as volumes rebound across segments. The industry is also looking for continuity, along with a renewed push towards localization, innovation and ease of operations to enhance global competitiveness. A forward looking budget that supports manufacturing scale-up, road safety and policy stability will enable companies like ours to invest with confidence, create employment and contribute meaningfully to India’s journey as a global automotive manufacturing hub.”
Corporate Travel and Events Sector Demands Simpler GST Input Credits and Compliance Incentives
Vinod Kumar Sah, CTO & Co-founder, CoTrav, highlighted: “With the Union Budget imminent, organizations operating in the corporate travel/events space are eagerly awaiting a simpler system of GST Input Credits. At present, it often happens that GST payments made to hotels, transportation partners, and various other service providers tend to get withheld for a considerably long period of time due to certain bottlenecks in processes.
There is also a need to acknowledge and support businesses that follow proper GST and TDS compliance, maintain transparent invoicing, and run audit-ready financial systems. These companies should be encouraged through process-level incentives instead of being burdened with additional complexity.
Clear and consistent guidelines around bundled services and multi-vendor billing, which are core to corporate travel and events, would go a long way in reducing confusion and creating a smoother, more compliance-friendly environment for the sector.”
Climate Resilience via Parametric Insurance Gains Urgency
Ankur Indrakush, MD and Co-founder, Plutas.AI, stated: “India’s increasingly volatile weather and rising climate disasters highlight the urgent need for parametric climate insurance. In 2024–25 alone, extreme events caused over 3,000 deaths, widespread agricultural damage, housing losses, and livestock casualties, exposing gaps in current post-event relief systems. While existing government insurance schemes focus on long-term compensation, immediate livelihood protection remains missing. A pre-funded, data-driven parametric insurance framework can enable rule-based, real-time payouts triggered by objective climate data, reducing delays and leakages. As India’s gig workforce expands rapidly, Budget 2026 support for pilots, incentives, and Centre-State coordination can shift disaster response from reactive relief to proactive climate resilience. From the 2026 Union Budget, clear policy direction, pilot funding, fiscal incentives, stronger Centre-State coordination, GIC Re participation, and alignment with NDMA and SDMA frameworks can help India transition from reactive relief to proactive climate resilience and set a global benchmark in climate security.”
As the Union Budget 2026 nears on February 1, 2026, these expectations underscore interconnected themes: regulatory predictability for digital and AI investments, GST streamlining for service sectors, sustained manufacturing and infrastructure support, and forward-looking mechanisms for emerging risks like climate change. Announcements addressing these areas could enhance compliance, accelerate innovation, strengthen supply chains, and build greater economic and societal resilience in India’s growth journey.
Last Updated on: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 10:54 pm by News Vent Team | Published by: News Vent Team on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 10:54 pm | News Categories: News
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