Budget Signal to Growth: Nirmala Sitharaman Unveils 6-Step Script
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents Budget 2026 (Image Sansad TV)
From Semiconductor Mission 2.0 to ₹12.2 lakh crore capex, the Finance Minister pitches manufacturing, MSMEs and infrastructure as growth engines.
By NIRENDRA DEV
Guwahati, February 1, 2026 — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has laid out an ambitious India growth blueprint, unveiling a six-step process aimed at accelerating and sustaining economic momentum in the coming years. Framed as a shift from incrementalism to scale, the roadmap blends manufacturing muscle, infrastructure expansion and targeted social stability.
“To accelerate and sustain economic growth,” Sitharaman said, “I propose interventions in six areas”—scaling up manufacturing across seven strategic sectors, rejuvenating legacy industries, creating champion MSMEs, delivering a sustained infrastructure push, ensuring long-term security and stability, and developing city economic regions as growth hubs.
A key highlight was the announcement of Semiconductor Mission 2.0, with sharper focus on industry-led research, training centres and workforce development—an acknowledgment that technology leadership depends as much on skills as on capital. The Finance Minister also proposed a ₹10,000 crore MSME Growth Fund to nurture future industrial champions, calling MSMEs the backbone of India’s economic resilience.
In what carries political as well as economic significance, Sitharaman proposed dedicated rare earth corridors linking Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala—states critical to both supply chains and upcoming electoral battles. Seven high-speed rail corridors were announced as development linkages between cities, reinforcing infrastructure as a multiplier for growth.
Capital expenditure has been raised to ₹12.2 lakh crore for FY2027, underlining the government’s bet on public investment to crowd in private capital. The Bio Pharma Shakti scheme, with an outlay of ₹10,000 crore over five years, aims to build a domestic bio-pharma ecosystem.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for choosing “action over ambivalence,” Sitharaman framed the strategy around three kartavyas: growth, people’s aspirations, and Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. The message is clear—the India growth blueprint is about scale, speed and political intent.
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