“With the Union Budget 2026, technology and artificial intelligence move from being enablers to becoming core pillars of India’s economic and governance strategy. The Budget’s continued emphasis on digital public infrastructure, data-led governance, and technology-enabled service delivery reflects a strong focus on scale, efficiency, and transparency across sectors. The reinforcement of national initiatives such as the AI Mission, the National Quantum Mission, and the Anusandhan National Research Fund, along with sustained investments in research, innovation, and skilling, underscores a structured approach to embedding advanced technologies across education, healthcare, financial services, and public administration. The focus on integrating AI into education-to-employment pathways and public systems further aligns technology adoption with workforce readiness and governance outcomes. For the technology and IT services sector, measures including a unified safe harbour margin of 15.5 percent, an expanded eligibility threshold of ₹2,000 crore, and automated approvals provide greater certainty and ease of compliance. In addition, the tax holiday till 2047 for foreign cloud service providers delivering global services using Indian data centre infrastructure strengthens India’s position in the global digital and data economy. Overall, the Budget outlines an execution-oriented approach to leveraging technology and artificial intelligence to support productivity, services-led growth, and long-term competitiveness.”
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