Union Budget 2026: Growth Must Be Felt, Not Just Counted

Indian Overseas Congress

The Union Budget 2026 presents an image of macroeconomic confidence. Fiscal discipline, capital expenditure, and long-term growth signals once again dominate the narrative. On paper, the numbers inspire reassurance. Yet democracy does not live on spreadsheets alone. For a country as young, diverse, and globally connected as India, growth must ultimately be experienced in everyday life-through jobs, inclusion, opportunity, and participation. Otherwise, it risks remaining an abstract achievement.

India today stands at a critical demographic moment. With one of the world’s largest youth populations, economic growth must translate into meaningful employment pathways. While the Budget emphasises infrastructure and investment-led expansion, clarity on job creation remains limited. Growth that does not generate sufficient employment-particularly for first-time job seekers-creates frustration rather than confidence. The real test of economic success lies not in aggregate GDP figures, but in whether young Indians feel empowered to build their futures at home.

Farmers, too, remain central to this conversation. Budgetary allocations and policy measures often focus on productivity and efficiency, but income security and resilience against climate volatility demand deeper attention. Agriculture is not merely an economic sector; it is a social foundation for millions of families. When rural distress persists despite headline growth, the promise of development feels unevenly distributed. Sustainable growth must strengthen livelihoods, not just outputs.

Women’s participation in the economy represents another unfinished chapter. While incremental steps are visible, structural barriers-access to credit, safety, workforce re-entry, and leadership opportunities-require stronger policy imagination. An economy that underutilises half its population cannot claim inclusive growth. Empowerment must move beyond symbolism and become systemic.

One often-overlooked dimension in budgetary discourse is the Indian diaspora. Spread across continents, overseas Indians contribute not only remittances, but also knowledge, networks, and global exposure. Yet diaspora engagement remains largely transactional. In a world shaped by ideas and innovation, India would benefit from institutional pathways that connect its global citizens to domestic development-particularly in education, skills, healthcare, and entrepreneurship. Growth without diaspora engagement leaves a powerful national asset underutilised.

The Budget’s emphasis on long-term capital investment is necessary, but not sufficient. Roads, ports, and digital infrastructure matter-but human infrastructure matters more. Skills, trust, inclusion, and participation form the invisible architecture of a resilient economy. Without them, growth risks becoming centralised rather than shared.

Democratic legitimacy is strengthened when people feel progress in their lived realities. Numbers may impress markets, but people respond to opportunity. A budget that truly succeeds is one where a young graduate finds work, a farmer sees stability, a woman gains economic agency, and the diaspora feels meaningfully connected to India’s journey.

India’s growth story does not lack ambition. What it needs is balance. Growth must travel-from balance sheets to households, from cities to villages, from policy intent to public experience.

Because growth without jobs, inclusion, and diaspora engagement is incomplete.