“The Union Budget 2026-27 is a clear demonstration that the Digital Economy is a cornerstone of India’s path to continual development, exemplified by the growing focus on IT infrastructure in AI, Semiconductors, Data Centres, and Cloud Services. Open source technologies, already popular amongst both grassroots and enterprise Developers in India, can be a powerful enabler for impactful innovation to happen.
This year’s Budget calls for scaling strategic and frontier sectors, for example the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and Biopharma SHAKTI. This will require increased capacity in high-availability and real-time processing. Smart deployment of open source in Edge environments, or cases where devices are in geographically disparate sources but still require high connectivity, could help facilitate the nation’s ongoing transition from traditional manufacturing into intelligent data-driven hubs.
As the Budget prioritizes long-term economic security and AI-driven governance, AI that is built on genuine open source principles offers a stronger and more transparent framework for usage in key growth sectors like AgriStack and fisheries. This balanced approach ensures AI applications are secure, scalable, and built to meet the dynamic needs of India’s diverse population.
The budget also highlights the development of city economic regions and high-speed rail corridors, which will be vital to India’s representation and competitiveness on the world stage. Physical infrastructure today is inseparable from a digital one, and should be considered in tandem. Open source provides knowledge pooling and accelerated development cycles, to support interoperable and resilient digital infrastructure. While ensuring there is maximal return-on-investment from public CapEx for public good.”
