India's Budget: Tax Reforms & Global Standing

India's Budget reinforces its economic resilience through continued tax reforms, including rationalized customs duties, following earlier GST, corporate, and personal income-tax adjustments. Government finances have been bolstered by digitalization, direct benefit transfers, and increased dividends from the RBI and public sector undertakings (PSUs). The Budget also highlights a proposal for land monetization via PSUs' Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), building on a projected 137% increase in disinvestment.

The government's strategic focus on seven key sectors acknowledges the demands of a modern, high-tech economy and global imperatives. This approach aims to integrate India into emerging global investment themes driven by defense spending, climate transition, supply chain realignments, and AI infrastructure development. Coupled with ongoing infrastructure investments and ease-of-business measures, these policies seek to enhance India's manufacturing competitiveness and supply chain resilience.

Economic progress is being translated into improved quality of life, with the medium-term potential growth rate revised to 7%. The government's emphasis on skill development and job creation in sectors like tourism and the creative economy aligns with leveraging India's demographic dividend. Despite global challenges such as Chinese overcapacity, the Budget strengthens India's fundamentals and reform momentum, laying a credible path for sustained long-term growth, with the private sector expected to drive the next phase of expansion.