Union Budget 2025: A reflection of Centre’s commitment to building resilient and dynamic industrial ecosystem Premium

R. Nandini, Chairperson, CII, Southern Region writes about the Union Budget 2025-26

Today’s Budget, announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has received an overwhelmingly positive response from across the nation. Presenting her eighth consecutive Budget, the Finance Minister introduced a series of transformative initiatives that are a significant step towards fostering economic growth, job creation, and inclusivity, reflecting the government’s commitment to building a resilient and dynamic industrial ecosystem.

The Economic Survey presented in the Parliament on January 31 noted that the government’s focus is on empowering citizens through education, healthcare, skill development, and social infrastructure development. All these aspects have seen significant progress. Further enhancements are still possible by improving delivery systems through innovation and technology.

It also said that to fully capitalise on the demographic dividend, it is well-recognised that creating quality jobs that offer sustainable livelihoods is crucial. By prioritising reskilling, upskilling, and new-skilling, the government aims to align the workforce with global demands, enhancing both domestic and international employability.

The Union Budget has 10 broad focus areas, including inclusive growth path, enabling employment-led development and investing in people, economy and innovation.

In line with these, the Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme announced in the Budget will digitise Indian language books for education, and five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling, developed with global expertise, will support workforce development. Furthermore, a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Education, with an outlay of ₹500 crore, will bolster India’s technological landscape.

Medical education will see a major boost with 10,000 additional seats, targeting a total of 75,000 new seats over the next five years. Day Care Cancer Centres will be established in all district hospitals, improving access to critical cancer treatment. In addition, the government has expanded the list of custom-duty exempted medicines, including 36 life-saving drugs, along with new medicines for rare diseases, cancer, and chronic illnesses.

To give a thrust to research programmes, in the next five years, the government will provide 10,000 fellowships for technological research at IITs and the IISc with enhanced financial support under the PM Research Fellowship Scheme.