Announcements

India's sports budget

India’s sports budget for FY26 stands at ₹3,749 crore.

China's sports budget

In comparison, China’s sports budget is a massive ₹27,741 crore!

India's defence budget

Indian Defence allocation for 2025-26 is ₹6,81,210.27 crore

Production linked incentives for textiles industry

PLI for Textiles is 1100 crores. This budget was merely 45 crore last year.

Centres for cancer in all districts

Day care centers for cancer in all districts within 3 years.

FDI limit for insurance

Will be raised from 74% to 100%.

Fiscal Deficit

For the financial year, it is seen at 4.8% of GDP

Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0

Is to be introduced to decriminalise over 100 provisions.

Investment friendly index of states

Investment friendly index of states to be launched in 2025.

Medical seats

10,000 additional seats to be added in medical colleges next year and 75,000 seats to be added in next 5 years.

Custom duty waived off

Customs duty for 36 medicines for serious illness like cancer have been waived off fully

Full BCD exemptions

Full exemptions of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on cobalt powder and lithium - ion battery waste, scrap and 12 other critical minerals.
Patient assistance programs run by pharmaceutical companies will be fully exempt from BCD provided the medicines are supplied free of cost to the patients.
Additionally 37 new medicines and 13 new patient assistance programs will be included in the exemption list.

Prioritizes nuclear energy as key part

Aims for 100GW capacity by 2047
With 20, 000 crores for SMRs and legislative reforms

Schemes and Missions

Jal Jeevan mission

The mission is extended till 2028, to ensure 100% coverage. Since 2019, 80% coverage of rural population has been achieved.

Extension of National Commission for Safai Karmacharis

UDAN scheme

This has enabled 1.5 crore middle class people connecting 88 airports, with 619 routes.
Modified UDAN to be launched to 120 new destinations.

Nuclear energy mission

The target is to develop 100GW energy by 2047.
Amendments to the Atomic Energy act will be taken up.

SWAMI scheme

50,000 dwelling units completed and another 40,000 is to be completed
SWAMI fund 2 will be established of Rs. 15,000 crores.

Skill India Programme

Cabinet approves continuation and restructuring of the Central Sector Scheme ‘Skill India Programme’ till 2026 with an overlay outlay of ₹8,800 crore from the period 2022-23 to 2025-26

Combines

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0
PM National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (PM-NAPS)
Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) scheme Current updates - Video

State Specific

Bihar

4 crore additional passengers, green field airports to be facilitated in Bihar.

Andhra Pradesh

The Waltair division of the South Coast Railways was renamed as Vishakapatnam division.
Andhra pradesh got a new zone - "South Coast Railway Zone", created as per the Andhra Pradesh Reoorganisation Act, but lost a few places to the Rayagada division in the East coast railways.
The exact jurisdiction will be decided after the preparation of a revised detailed project report (DPR).
New Division in the East Coast Railway was created - Rayagada Railway Division

Analysis

Fiscal prudence

The path to fiscal prudence is sought to be achieved through expenditure cuts rather than revenue augmentation.

Tax cut benefits

The tax cut will increase the disposable income of the middle class and likely boost consumption. The extent of the boost will depend on factors, such as the marginal propensity to consume and financial liabilities of households.

Build back household savings

Some portion of the rise in income will be used to build back household savings, which hit a record low of 5.2 percent of gross national disposable income in 2022-23.

Impact on consumption

The country’s narrow tax base also raises questions on the extent of the impact on consumption.

To lift rural incomes

Increase in allocations to rural sector schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, sustained allocation to MNREGA, and marginal rise in allocation to the free food scheme, are likely to lift rural incomes.

Shortfall in receipts

Revised estimates for the current year represent a shortfall in receipts. This is a departure from previous years, when revenue receipts, particularly tax receipts, exceeded budget estimates and were used to finance higher spending by the government.
According to the revised estimates, revenue receipts are lower by around Rs 41,000 crore, and tax revenues to the Centre are lower by Rs 26,000 crore this year.

Government expects bumper dividend from RBI

On the non-tax revenue front, the government expects another year of bumper dividend payout from the Reserve Bank of India and state-run banks. In the current year, the RBI dividend helped keep the fiscal deficit in check, despite a decline in nominal GDP growth and lower taxes.
The government expects to receive Rs 2.56 lakh crore from RBI and public sector banks next year, compared to Rs 2.34 lakh crore in the revised estimates of the current fiscal.

Volatility in currency market

Amid a decline in global interest rates and the possibility of higher provisioning to take into account the volatility in the currency market, the projections of dividend payout by RBI seem optimistic.