Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2026-2027 in Parliament today, proposed 3 kartavyas to speed-up the reform momentum towards Viksit Bharat. The Finance Minister said that the first Kartavya is to accelerate and sustain economic growth, by enhancing productivity and competitiveness, and building resilience to volatile global dynamics; second Kartavya is to fulfill aspirations of people and build their capacity, making them strong partners in India’s path to prosperity and third Kartavya, aligned with vision of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, is to ensure that every family, community, region and sector has access to resources, amenities and opportunities for meaningful participation.
The Finance Minister said that the threefold approach requires a supportive ecosystem. The first requirement is to sustain the momentum of structural reforms— continuous, adaptive, and forward-looking. Second, a robust and resilient financial sector is central to mobilising savings, allocating capital efficiently and managing risks. Third, cutting-edge technologies, including AI applications, can serve as force multipliers for better governance.
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that the first Budget prepared in Kartavya Bhawan is a unique Yuva Shakti-driven Budget inspired from several innovative ideas which were shared with Hon’ble Prime Minister in the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2026.
The Finance Minister said that India’s economic trajectory has been marked by stability, fiscal discipline, sustained growth and moderate inflation in last 12 years. The Government has continuously pursued far reaching structural reforms, fiscal prudence and monetary stability whilst maintaining a strong thrust on public investment. She said that keeping ‘self-reliance (Atamnirbharta) at core, Government has built domestic manufacturing capacity, energy security and reduced critical import dependencies along with ensuring citizens centric development and undertaking reforms to support employment generation, agricultural productivity, household purchasing power and universal services to people. These measures have delivered a high growth rate of around 7% and helped us make substantial strides in poverty reduction and improvement in the lives of people, she said.
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that in an external environment in which trade and multilateralism are imperiled and access to resources and supply chains are disrupted, new technologies are transforming production systems while sharply increasing demands on water, energy and critical minerals; India will continue to take confident steps towards Viksit Bharat by balancing ambition with inclusion and must remain deeply integrated with global markets, exporting more and attracting stable long-term investment. The Finance Minister expressed the gratitude to the people for standing firmly with Government and forging the way together towards becoming one of the largest economies of the world.
Highlighting Government’s aim to transform aspiration into achievement and potential into performance, the Finance Minister said that Government is ensuring that dividends of growth reach every farmer, the scheduled caste, the scheduled tribes, the nomads, the youth, the poor and the women.
