Budget 2026 LIVE Updates: FM Backs Manufacturing, Bio-Pharma

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday outlined six key intervention areas under Budget 2026. These are aimed at strengthening India’s industrial and economic base.

The areas include scaling up manufacturing across seven strategic and frontier sectors and rejuvenating legacy industries. They also cover creating champion MSMEs and delivering a strong push for infrastructure. Furthermore, they include ensuring long-term economic security and stability, and developing city economic regions.

As part of the industrial push, Sitharaman announced Biopharma Shakti, a Rs 10,000 crore initiative spread over five years. This initiative aims to position India as a global bio-pharma hub. The strategy includes establishing a bio-pharma-focused network. It also involves creating 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites to strengthen research and development in the sector.

The Finance Minister also proposed increasing the outlay for the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 to Rs 40,000 crore. The focus will be on industry-led research and training centres. This move aims to build on the momentum of the semiconductor programme. Additionally, it will support mineral-rich states such as Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

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