“The Government has been very supportive of the Renewable sector. While existing policies have successfully driven capacity expansion and catalysed domestic manufacturing, sustained investor confidence is built on policy stability and assured payment mechanisms. Hence, the Government should continue with the schemes that drive investments in manufacturing and provide payments security for the RE generators. Also, as the generation continues to scale, greater emphasis must be placed on sprucing up grid infrastructure and enabling long-duration storage solutions. Without these systemic enablers, the ability to absorb higher volumes of renewable energy could become a limiting factor.” – Mr. Kushagra Nandan, Co-Founder, LNK Energy.

Nikhil Aggarwal, Founder & Group CEO, Grip Invest, said: “The upcoming Budget can accelerate bond adoption by reducing friction and improving liquidity. Key steps include incentivising secondary-market trading, strengthening repo and market-making frameworks, and expanding credit enhancement mechanisms so issuances are not restricted only to top-rated entities. These measures would make bonds more competitive with equities as scalable, long-term investment options. A recent report by Niti Aayog on Deepening the Bond Market clearly identifies tax asymmetries such as slab-rate taxation of interest, TDS inefficiencies, and unfavourable capital-gains treatment as major deterrents to long-term bond investing. Rationalising these, especially for long-tenor listed bonds and retail-focused fixed-income products, would materially improve household participation.

Digital platforms are also essential to expanding retail participation, which remains below 2%. The Budget can support this by backing standardised disclosures, real-time bond data infrastructure, and strong suitability and risk-labelling norms, allowing platforms to democratise access while preserving investor protection by design. A further reduction in the minimum investment amount for highly rated issuers will also help broaden the investor base. Over the long term, India needs a sustained shift toward market-based financing through coordinated regulation, deeper secondary markets, broader issuer participation beyond AAA credits, and stronger recovery and enforcement mechanisms. This will gradually reduce over-reliance on bank credit and enable the bond market to fund infrastructure, MSMEs, and long-duration assets at scale.”

Shashank Agarwal, Joint Managing Director, Salasar Techno Engineering Ltd, said: “India’s infrastructure build-out is central to unlocking productivity, improving logistics efficiency, and converting our population dividend into an economic advantage. As we look to the upcoming Union Budget, Salasar Techno Engineering Ltd. expects a continued and sustained thrust on public capex with multi-year predictability, because long-cycle infrastructure requires stable pipelines not one-time spikes in spending.

While investments in railways, airports and ports are important, the next phase must prioritise roads and urban mobility at scale: decongesting cities, improving traffic flow, building stronger inter-city corridors, and ensuring last-mile connectivity. Faster and safer movement of people and goods is the most direct lever to raise national efficiency and reduce logistics costs.

We also expect ongoing support for power infrastructure, particularly transmission and distribution upgrades, grid resilience, and renewable integration—along with measures that improve execution: streamlined approvals, quicker dispute resolution, standardised contract frameworks, and timely release of payments to keep the sector’s working capital healthy.

On telecom and digital infrastructure, recent clarity in public tenders has been helpful. However, we believe the sector now needs clearer visibility on private-side expansion and enabling policies that strengthen competitiveness. A healthier competitive landscape across telecom services as well as tower infrastructure—will support innovation, resilience and affordability for consumers. Simplifying Right-of-Way, accelerating fibre densification, and ensuring faster rollouts in both urban and rural India should remain key priorities.

Overall, we look to the Budget for a practical, execution-focused roadmap that keeps India’s infrastructure growth on a high trajectory for several years to come.”

The budget session of Parliament begins today, 28 January. The session starts with an address by President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses.

The Economic Survey of India will be presented on January 29. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present Union Budget on 1 February, which is a Sunday.

The Halwa ceremony, marking the final stage of the Budget preparation process for Union Budget 2026-27, was held on Tuesday in the Budget Press at North Block, in the presence of Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman.

Parliament Budget Session 2026 Live Updates: The upcoming Budget will be Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth consecutive presentation, a record under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, placing her just one short of Morarji Desai’s all-time tally.