02 February,2026 10:57 AM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on Sunday. (Pic/PTI)
The Union Budget 2026 is a significant step toward making India a global hub for innovation and advanced manufacturing with global competitiveness as the lynchpin, says Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, Chairman, State Bank of India.
As reported by news agency IANS, the budget maintains policy continuity and tax predictability while attempting a fine balance between rural and urban and legacy and sunrise sectors.
The SBI chairman, while hailing the 2026 budget, said, "This year's budget has both predictable and futuristic elements. The predictable part is the basic structure, which remains focused on emerging and employment-generating sectors. The infrastructure sector continues to be an anchor, with an increase in proposed investments," as cited by IANS.
Setty further mentioned that there are many positives and opportunities for the banking sector. The budget this year focuses on reinventing banking in a rapidly changing context while keeping the financial markets orderly and stable. It also focuses on aligning India's next phase of growth and continues to be imperative for the sector.
The thrust on sunrise sectors, which form the futurist part, has announcements on semiconductors, data centres, carbon capture utilisation and storage, critical minerals, etc.
"Starting with basic fiscal calculations, the budgetary allocations are based on the assumption of nominal GDP growth of 10 per cent, which appears prudent given the way inflation is panning out. This translates into a fiscal deficit estimated at 4.3 per cent of GDP," Setty added.
Commenting on the agricultural part, he said that, on the rural and agricultural side, the budget has made some notable shifts.
The SBI chairman also added, "The focus will now be on high-value products such as sandalwood, cashews and fisheries through the integrated development of 500 reservoirs, a coconut promotion scheme to increase production, rejuvenating old, low-yielding orchards and expanding high-density cultivation of walnuts, almonds and pine nuts," as per IANS.
There is also a focus on expanding the use of AI in agriculture by integrating Agri Stack portals.
Emphasis on services, particularly tourism, the orange economy and education, is timely and complementary to both proposed infrastructure expansion and connectivity and digital capex-led future growth. The High-Powered âEducation to Employment and Enterprise' Standing Committee will focus on the services sector as a core driver of Viksit Bharat.
The chairman also added, "On the financing side, to further strengthen the confidence of private developers, an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund will be set up to provide prudently calibrated partial credit guarantees to lenders," as per IANS.
Accepting the reality of rapidly urbanising India, the Union Budget 2026 has tried to harness the power of urban agglomerations. Towards this end, city economic regions (CER) will be mapped based on their specific growth drivers and an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore per CER over 5 years for implementing development plans.
(With inputs from IANS)
