Pre Budget Expectations 2026-27

Madhur Singhal, Managing Partner

Consumer and Internet

«“Private consumption accounts for nearly 57 percent of India’s GDP, yet demand recovery remains uneven across income segments. Budget 2025–26 should focus on boosting disposable incomes, reducing logistics costs that still stand at 13–14 percent of GDP, and strengthening digital and physical retail infrastructure to support omnichannel and D2C growth.”

Technology and Business Services

«“Technology and business services contribute over 7 percent of GDP, but future growth depends on moving up the value chain. The budget should prioritise deep-tech R&D, digital public infrastructure, and large-scale reskilling across AI, SaaS, and engineering services.”»

Private Capital

«“India will require over US$ 1.5 T in infrastructure investment over the next decade. Budget 2025–26 should continue to crowd in private capital through asset monetisation, regulatory stability, and predictable tax regimes to attract long-term domestic and global investors.”

Aryaman Tandon, Managing Partner

Healthcare and Life Sciences

«“India’s public healthcare spending remains at around 2 percent of GDP, compared to 3–4 percent in comparable economies. The budget must move decisively toward 2.5 percent of GDP, with sharper focus on primary care, diagnostics, and domestic manufacturing, where medical device import dependence exceeds 65 percent.”

Vishakha Gandhi, AVP

Education and Employability

«“Despite India’s demographic advantage, only around 50 percent of graduates are considered readily employable. Budget 2025–26 should focus on outcome-based funding, digital education platforms, and stronger industry-academia collaboration to improve employability at scale.”»

Sandeep Ghosh, Practice Leader

Financial Services

«“While system-wide credit growth has remained strong, India’s MSME credit gap is estimated at over US$ 300 B. Budget 2025–26 should strengthen NBFC liquidity, expand credit guarantee mechanisms, and deepen bond markets to ensure sustained capital flow to productive sectors.”»

Government, Public, and Social

«“With public capital expenditure driving growth over recent years, Budget 2025–26 must focus on execution efficiency and outcome-based spending. Stronger centre–state coordination and data-led governance will be critical to improving public service delivery.”

Ram Soni, Partner

Next-Generation Industrials

«“Manufacturing contributes roughly 17 percent of GDP, significantly below India’s medium-term aspiration of 25 percent. Budget 2025–26 should sustain high capital expenditure, extend production-linked incentives, and simplify compliance to accelerate advanced manufacturing, EMS, and engineering-led growth.”»

Mobility, Energy, and Transportation

«“India’s logistics costs remain 4–5 percentage points higher than global benchmarks, affecting competitiveness. The budget should sustain infrastructure-led growth while accelerating clean energy and electric mobility adoption to reduce carbon intensity and improve efficiency.”»

Akshat Gupta, Practice Leader

Food and Agriculture

«“Agriculture employs close to 45 percent of India’s workforce but contributes less than 20 percent of GDP, highlighting a productivity challenge. The budget should pivot from input-heavy subsidies toward value-chain investments, especially in agri-processing and storage, where post-harvest losses exceed US$ 15 B annually.”»