She said the Centre is willing to work with states to develop mega textile parks, highlighted steps to streamline key aspects of the Budget, and underscored efforts to provide larger domains and opportunities for startups to scale and innovate.
She added the government aims to integrate skilling into formal education so that students graduate not just with degrees but with employable skills and entrepreneurial capabilities.
“We have said that instead of waiting to qualify and finishing your education and coming out and seeking where should they go for acquiring skills, the skilling element can be brought into education itself and at the end of the day when they come out, students can say I can become entrepreneur and this kind of a mega centre can be kept next to any industrial cluster that any state has. So, these mega entrepreneurship building centres as education hubs can also be coming up from any state.’ Sitharaman said.
Such large entrepreneurship-building centres, she added, could be established alongside major industrial clusters in states, enabling students to emerge as job creators rather than job seekers. The Centre, she added, is ready to collaborate with states to develop these “mammoth” higher education hubs.
Rejecting Opposition claims that certain states had been denied funds, Sitharaman said the Centre remained firmly committed to cooperative federalism. Addressing concerns over taxation and government expenditure, she announced that Rs 25.44 lakh crore would be transferred to states in FY27 as part of tax devolution.
The 2026–27 Budget, she added, envisages a total expenditure of Rs 53.47 lakh crore, underscoring the government’s continued thrust on capital investment, welfare commitments and fiscal support to states. Dismissing allegations of discrimination, the finance minister cited the 16th Finance Commission’s recommendations, asserting that the constitutional body’s formula had been adhered to in 2018–19 and during the 2020–23 period.
She further said that, based on the recommendation of state finance ministers, the 50-year interest-free capital expenditure loans to states under the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme have been enhanced to Rs 2 lakh crore. While the Centre’s capital expenditure for 2026–27 stands at Rs 12 lakh crore, she noted that combined with spending by states and Union Territories, the effective capex will rise to Rs 17.1 lakh crore, amounting to around 3% of GDP.
Gross tax receipts seen at Rs 44.04 lakh crore; capex at Rs 12.22 lakh crore
Outlining the fiscal roadmap, Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha that gross tax receipts in the Budget estimates are projected at Rs 44.04 lakh crore, about 8% higher than the revised estimates for 2025–26 — an increase of Rs 3.26 lakh crore. She added that total expenditure for 2026–27 is estimated at Rs 53.47 lakh crore. Capital expenditure has been pegged at Rs 12.22 lakh crore, accounting for 3.1% of GDP and marking an 11.5% rise over the revised estimates for 2025–26.
The finance minister also added the government is placing greater emphasis on animal husbandry and fisheries, with plans to ensure that every district is equipped with essential infrastructure such as veterinary surgeons, hospitals and testing laboratories. This, she said, would strengthen rural livelihoods and give sustained priority to animal husbandry across the country.
“We are also placing emphasis on animal husbandry and fisheries to ensure that every district has facilities such as a veterinary surgeon, hospital, and testing laboratories. This will ensure that animal husbandry is given priority in all rural areas…This goes along with the funds being allocated for the restoration of sarovars and waterways along the course of rivers, so that shipbuilding and boat-building can be developed, covering all the mineral-rich parts of the country and linking them with Paradip and Dhamra ports,” She said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the India-US trade deal, alleging that the PM had “fully surrendered” to the United States.
Also Read | Surrender to Trump & India’s ‘data currency’: Rahul Gandhi slams US trade deal & Budget in Lok Sabha
Gandhi warned Parliament that the government is failing to grasp the realities of a rapidly destabilising world — and risks bargaining away the country’s greatest strategic asset: its data.
Gandhi described it as “tragic” that the future of 1.4 billion people had been “surrendered to protect the BJP’s financial architecture, on which there is a case in the US”. He further alleged in the House that the Prime Minister would not “sell India under normal circumstances” but was doing so because he was being “choked”. “When you choke someone, you see fear in their eyes. You can see it in the PM’s eyes,” Gandhi said.
In a speech that blended global geopolitics with domestic policy critique, Gandhi said the world is shifting from stability to volatility, where power will be determined not by armies but by control over technology and information.
“AI without data is nothing,” he stressed, calling India’s 140 crore people the country’s single greatest strategic asset — a vast, dynamic reservoir of behavioural, commercial and social data that global powers covet. In a world where the United States faces mounting challenges from China and Russia, Gandhi argued, Indian data could become the decisive currency that determines which nation retains technological and financial dominance.
More to follow…