Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday participated in a small yet significant ritual takes place behind closed doors of the Finance Ministry – the Halwa Ceremony.
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Union Budget for FY27 on Sunday. According to the reports, the Modi government is likely to announce a set of targeted measures aimed at supporting labour-intensive sectors, with a particular focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). It is important to note that these sectors have been among the most impacted by recent global trade disruptions, including higher tariffs imposed by the United States. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday participated in a small yet significant ritual takes place behind closed doors of the Finance Ministry – the Halwa Ceremony. The traditional ceremony is held annually at North Block to mark the final stage of preparation before the Budget is presented in Parliament on February 1.
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Deepak Chhabta, Founder of Jubliexx (Digital Creator & Creator Economy Platform)
“As India’s creator economy moves toward becoming a mainstream employment generator, Union Budget 2026 is expected to introduce targeted tax relief and clearer compliance structures for content creators and digital entrepreneurs. Today, many independent creators face an effective tax burden of 20–30%; a simplified or presumptive taxation framework and rationalised GST treatment could reduce this to around 10–15%, improving take-home earnings by 15–25% for small and mid-level creators.
Incentives for homegrown creator platforms, along with continued investment in high-speed broadband and cloud infrastructure, will support the rapid growth of live, interactive and short-form content formats. Clear monetisation guidelines and creator-friendly policies can further stabilise incomes and encourage formalisation. A future-ready budget that combines tax support, digital infrastructure investment and innovation incentives can unlock large-scale micro-entrepreneurship and position India as a global hub for next-generation digital entertainment.”
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Deepak Chhabra, Founder of 77 Pillar (Real Estate Platform)
“The Indian real estate sector continues to be driven by strong end-user demand across residential and commercial segments, supported by urbanisation, infrastructure spending and improved access to housing finance. From Union Budget 2026, the industry expects meaningful tax relief for homebuyers, especially an increase in the current ₹2 lakh annual deduction on home-loan interest under Section 24(b) and a separate housing-linked deduction beyond the existing ₹1.5 lakh limit under Section 80C.
Such measures can translate into annual tax savings of ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh per homebuyer and improve effective housing affordability by nearly 10–15%. Alongside tax reforms, a transparent policy framework that strengthens buyer protection, ensures timely project delivery, and simplifies compliance through digitisation will be crucial. A balanced approach that safeguards homebuyers while enabling credible developers to scale will allow real estate to contribute more strongly to employment generation and long-term economic growth.”
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Sujjain Talwar, Co-Founding Partner, Economic Laws Practice
The Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was released by the Ministry of Power for public consultation on October 9, 2025. The draft bill proposes significant amendments to India’s Electricity Act, 2003. On December 18, 2025, the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Power consulted with Members of Parliament on the provisions of the draft bill. The bill is likely to be tabled in the 2026 Budget session of Parliament.
About captive generation, the draft bill provides that the eligibility criteria for captive generating plants and their users shall be as prescribed by the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be. The eligibility criteria for a captive power plant are currently provided under Rule 3 of the Electricity Rules, 2005, which requires a captive user to have a minimum 26% ownership of a captive power plant and consume at least 51% of the power produced. It is important that the government considers ensuring a uniform captive consumption criteria, as the bill in its current form opens the possibility of a fragmented captive consumption criteria being adopted by different state governments for the intra-state captive power projects.
With regard to developing an electricity trading market, the draft bill provides for the introduction of Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (“VPPAs”). This is in line with the VPPA Guidelines issued by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission on December 24, 2025.
The Guidelines provide that they will come into effect from such date as may be separately notified by the CERC. Once notified, the uptake of VPPAs along with the implementation of market coupling is expected to significantly improve electricity price discovery.
The draft bill also proposes to include ‘energy storage system’ in the definition of power system. This is in line with the amendments to the Electricity Rules, 2005, which were notified on September 19, 2025.
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Heena Chheda, Partner, Economic Laws Practice
Real estate developers and homebuyers are looking to Union Budget 2026 for relief on several long‑pending issues. The first big demand is for stamp duty benefits for green homes. Industry bodies want the central government to nudge states to offer standardised stamp duty concessions to homebuyers who purchase certified green properties. If buying an eco‑friendly home becomes cheaper, more people will choose sustainable housing, instead of it being limited to a premium segment.
Currently MahaRERA regulates “new construction” sold to third-party homebuyers, not the “rehab component” (the flats provided to existing tenants/owners) in a redevelopment project. This creates a significant regulatory vacuum. Homeowners who have vacated their old premises and are suffering on account inordinate delays and defaults of developer in payment of rent are stuck in limbo, as there is no fast-track grievance redressal forum. The stakeholders are expecting a legislative clarity and a robust enforcement mechanism to ensure that the thousands of families participating in redevelopment are adequately protected.
In Integrated township projects (ITPs), multiple developers often work on different sectors of the same township. Currently RERA does not provide for a specific master developer category who would be responsibile for common infrastructure like internal roads, utilities and shared amenities. Hence often disputes arise when one part of the township is delayed or under‑delivered or such common infrastructure is not completed. Developers are urging the government and regulators to create such a category so as to bring express clarity on the responsibility and liability interse the master developer and specific project developer, so as to protect home buyers.
The industry is hoping that the Budget will introduce or streamline a true single‑window clearance system. Such a system would bring approvals from different authorities onto one unified platform thus speeding up both construction and operational timelines for projects, improve transparency and financial efficiency.
Currently “affordable housing” is mostly defined by carpet area with some price limits added on. But this does not match real market conditions, especially in big cities where even very small flats can be very costly. Stakeholders are expecting the government to redefine affordable housing based primarily on the total cost of the home, with city‑wise or zone‑wise price limits so that many more projects come under the affordable housing category, making them eligible for tax benefits, subsidies and lower‑interest home loans.
The sector is once again pushing for “industry status” for real estate as a whole. Currently, benefits are largely limited to the affordable housing segment. Full industry status would make it easier to access institutional finance at lower interest rates and allow more stable, long‑term funding structures.
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Susanta Ghosh, COO and BU, Green Steel, ACME Group:
“Over the past couple of year, India’s clean-energy landscape has changed in a very real way. The momentum for industrial decarbonization in hard to abate sector like steel and cement has started. Green steel taxonomy and CCTS become a push.
The groundwork exists, but the shift to full-scale production will only happen when the cost gap with traditional steel narrows and supply becomes genuinely dependable. As we approach the Union Budget 2026-27, the focus should be on measures that help close this gap: easier access to green financing, support for hydrogen and Natural gas based DRI, storage solutions that work at scale, and a practical duty structure for essential equipment. Hydrogen based Cold DRI / HBI is the quickest tool to decarbonise Integrated BF BOF through real value in use. With supports of Union Govt these vertical shaft DRI plants can be the essential step to reduce CO2 emissions and lead through Indian Green steel mission.
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Anil Kumar Taparia, COO – Green Hydrogen and Ammonia, ACME Group
“Over the past year, India’s green hydrogen and green ammonia story has finally moved from broad ambition to actual execution. The sector is benefiting from something it lacked earlier, an alignment between policy direction and industry readiness. With the National Green Hydrogen Mission and SECI’s tenders laying out pricing, timelines, and delivery terms, developers and financiers now have the clarity they need before putting serious money on the table. What will determine the next stage is connectivity, as the best-designed projects could remain stuck unless transmission infrastructure expands quickly, particularly in resource-rich states like Rajasthan and Gujarat. We have the renewable power, and we have it at the right cost, but without stronger transmission, none of it can move at the pace the sector needs. The budget must step in with dedicated funding, demand-aggregation tools, and greater flexibility on NFE norms for projects that are strategically important to the country. These steps matter, as India has earned a clear lead as costs are settling, supply timelines are improving, and global buyers now increasingly see India as a credible source. Government measures, from duty relaxations to transmission waivers and PLI incentives, have strengthened project economics and helped narrow the cost gap with traditional fuels. But this advantage is fragile. Any slowdown in execution will erode it, especially as other markets are beginning to move fast and narrow the gap. To move beyond pilots and build real scale, the ecosystem needs stronger offtake structures, sharper consumption mandates, and far more discipline across project delivery. Investors will only step in at size when pricing and supply stop fluctuating and become reliably steady. The upcoming budget has the potential to be a real pivot point.”
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Gayathri Vasudevan, Chief Impact Officer, Sambhav Foundation
“As India prepares for the 2026 Union Budget, the focus on skilling must move decisively from counting enrolments to measuring employment outcomes, retention, and long-term adaptability. NEP 2020 laid out a clear vision for integrating education, vocational pathways, and employability. The next phase of reform must therefore be about execution, ensuring that skilling investments translate into sustained workforce participation, especially for those furthest from opportunity. This also requires deeper investment in research and documentation at a community level. Documentation through longitudinal studies, retention data, and post-placement outcomes is critical to designing skilling systems that respond to real-world constraints rather than assumptions. As the economy transitions toward AI-enabled work, focus on skilling to keep up with electric mobility and green enterprises, skills can no longer be designed in isolation from industry demand. Initiatives such as the expansion of Atal Tinkering Labs, AI-focused Centres-of-Excellence (CoE), and school-to-college STEM pathways are important in democratising early access to quality science and technology education. Budgetary support that aligns skilling programs with emerging sectors, strengthens digital public infrastructure for skills, and embeds vocational learning within the schooling-to-work continuum envisioned under NEP 2020 will be critical. For young women and underserved communities, especially, access to skills must also be accompanied by enabling conditions such as nutrition, social protection, credit access, and local market linkages, if learning is to convert into livelihoods. The Budget also presents an opportunity to deepen public-private-NGO collaboration, particularly in implementing national missions on skilling, foundational learning, and workforce readiness at the last mile. Measuring success through retention, learning outcomes, and transitions into dignified work, rather than certification alone, will determine whether India’s demographic dividend becomes a driver of inclusive growth or a missed opportunity.”
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Tushar Verma, EVP India & Subcon. REHAU India
As India prepares for the next phase of economic growth, the interiors and furniture sector stands at an important inflection point. Urban housing, commercial real estate, and renovation activity are together creating a strong, long term demand for better designed, more durable, and more sustainable interior solutions. The Union Budget has an opportunity to recognise this shift and support an industry that sits at the intersection of manufacturing, housing, and employment. The sector needs a stable and forward looking policy environment, one that encourages domestic manufacturing, simplifies the cost structure of essential inputs, and improves access to capital for the thousands of MSMEs who form the backbone of the interiors ecosystem. From designers and fabricators to component makers and installers, this value chain drives both innovation and livelihoods. A budget that strengthens housing, infrastructure, and small business financing will directly translate into healthier growth for interior solutions, helping Indian homes and workspaces move toward higher quality, safety, and long term value. That is where the real opportunity lies, for the industry and for the economy as a whole.