Union Budget 2026-27: ₹10,000 Cr Biopharma SHAKTI, Semiconductor Mission 2.0 & Logistics Reforms Win Strong Praise from Pharma, Tech & Logistics Leaders

The Union Budget 2026-27, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2026, reinforces India’s trajectory toward Viksit Bharat with a Yuva Shakti-driven focus on transforming aspirations into achievements. Anchored in three core Kartavyas—accelerating sustainable economic growth, building people’s capacity as partners in prosperity, and ensuring inclusive opportunities—the budget maintains fiscal discipline with a projected 4.3% fiscal deficit (down from 4.4% in FY26 RE) and sustained public capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore (3.1% of GDP). It emphasizes scaling manufacturing in strategic sectors, MSME empowerment, infrastructure-led efficiency, and technology adoption to boost productivity, exports, and self-reliance.

Key announcements include the Biopharma SHAKTI scheme (₹10,000 crore over five years) to position India as a global biologics and biosimilars hub, India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 with enhanced outlay (₹40,000 crore for electronics components), dedicated freight corridors and waterways for multimodal logistics, removal of consignment value caps on courier exports, customs duty exemptions on aviation components, and MSME support via a ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund and ₹2,000 crore top-up to the Self-Reliant India Fund.

Industry leaders have welcomed the budget as a decisive, reform-oriented blueprint that aligns infrastructure, manufacturing, exports, and innovation for global competitiveness.

Logistics and Trade Facilitation: Multimodal Push and E-Commerce Unlock

Announcements on new dedicated freight corridors, waterways, high-speed rail, container manufacturing, and the removal of the ₹10 lakh per consignment cap on courier exports, alongside customs duty exemptions on aviation components and ‘Corporate Mitras’ in Tier-II/III towns, aim to lower logistics costs and boost MSME exports.

Balfour Manuel, Managing Director at Blue Dart, called it a decisive roadmap:

“Today’s Budget is a decisive, action-oriented roadmap that accelerates India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat by aligning infrastructure expansion, manufacturing scale-up and trade facilitation with deeper global integration. For the logistics sector, announcements around new dedicated freight corridors, waterways, high-speed rail connectivity and enhanced container manufacturing capacity are particularly significant. These measures will strengthen multimodal integration, reduce transit variability, and structurally lower logistics costs which are critical enablers for exports and stronger participation in global value chains. The exemption of customs duty on aviation components is especially important for the express logistics ecosystem, where aircraft uptime and maintenance efficiency directly impact time-definite delivery performance.

The removal of the ₹10 lakh per consignment value cap on courier exports is a landmark reform for cross-border ecommerce. It unlocks scale for MSMEs and D2C exporters, enabling them to access global markets without artificial shipment constraints. The proposal to develop ‘Corporate Mitras’ in Tier-II and Tier-III towns will further strengthen compliance readiness, helping smaller enterprises formalise and integrate seamlessly into global supply chains. These reforms, coupled with broader simplification proposed under the Customs Act, will significantly ease cross-border e-commerce, lower compliance friction, and empower MSMEs to scale globally. Together, sustained capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore and targeted support for manufacturing and MSMEs create a future-ready ecosystem for integrated logistics providers driven by stronger infrastructure, seamless trade flows, and technology-enabled efficiencies powering India’s next growth chapter.”

Pharmaceuticals and Biologics: From Generics to Global Innovation Hub

The Biopharma SHAKTI initiative, with ₹10,000 crore over five years, expands NIPERs, strengthens CDSCO with scientific cadres, and builds end-to-end ecosystems for biologics, biosimilars, and clinical trials—reducing import dependence for complex therapies amid rising NCDs.

Mr Namit Joshi, Chairman – Pharmexcil, highlighted the export reinforcement:

“Budget 2026–27 advances the vision of Viksit Bharat by placing manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, MSMEs and export competitiveness at the core of India’s growth strategy, with a focused push to scale seven strategic sectors and rejuvenate legacy industrial clusters to improve productivity and cost efficiency. The ₹10,000 crore Biopharma SHAKTI programme strengthens the domestic biologics and biosimilars ecosystem through new and upgraded NIPERs, the strengthening of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation with a dedicated scientific review cadre and domain specialists to meet global regulatory standards and faster approval timelines—driving job creation, reducing import dependence, improving access to affordable medicines, and positioning India as a credible global hub for advanced therapies in line with the resolve of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The Budget further reinforces MSMEs through a ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, a ₹2,000 crore expansion of the Self-Reliant India Fund, improved liquidity via TReDS, credit guarantees and GeM integration, complemented by ‘Corporate Mitras’ to ease compliance, while customs reforms such as trusted importer facilitation, electronic sealing and an integrated Customs Integrated System will streamline exports and deepen India’s integration with global markets.”

Mr Saurabh Agarwal, Director, HAB Pharma, praised the MSME-led boost:

“Budget 2026–27 reinforces the kartavya of India’s pharmaceutical exporters to sustain the country’s leadership as the pharmacy of the world. Pharma exports today are a critical contributor to India’s trade balance, foreign exchange earnings, and global health security. And this is driven largely by MSMEs that form the backbone of the export ecosystem. The announcement of the Bio Pharma SHAKTI Project marks a historic and strategic shift in India’s pharmaceutical journey – from being a global leader in generics to emerging as a global bio-pharma manufacturing powerhouse. With a committed outlay of ₹10,000 crore over the next five years, the initiative is designed to build an end-to-end ecosystem for MSMEs to develop and manufacture biologics and biosimilar drugs, which represent the fastest-growing segment of the global pharmaceutical market.”

Mr Mohan Jain, Director – Naprod Life Sciences, noted the oncology focus:

“Budget 2026 is a strong endorsement of India’s MSME-led pharmaceutical manufacturing, particularly for companies operating in complex and critical therapy areas such as oncology. The Biopharma SHAKTI initiative provides a timely push to strengthen domestic capabilities in advanced formulations and biologics, while faster regulatory approvals and a stronger CDSCO will significantly improve ease of execution for quality-focused manufacturers.”

Chandrachur Datta, Partner, Vector Consulting Group, emphasized operational shifts:

“The ₹10,000 crore BioPharma SHAKTI allocation marks a clear shift from scale-at-speed to scale-with-complexity in India’s pharmaceutical sector. The renewed focus on GMP compliance, advanced biologics, and clinical research establishes stricter requirements for manufacturing operations, regulatory readiness, and supply chain system integration. Organizations can now develop resilient facilities, specialized equipment, and operational models because multi-year policy certainty enables them to make those commitments. India now possesses enhanced capabilities to execute complex biopharma programs through this development, enabling delivery at international standards.”

Electronics and Semiconductors: Capability Beyond Capacity

India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and enhanced ₹40,000 crore outlay for electronics components focus on equipment, materials, full-stack IP, and resilient supply chains.

Nikita Kumawat, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Brandworks Technologies, described the pivot:

“Union Budget 2026 marks a significant change in India’s electronics and semiconductor journey, shifting the focus from capacity creation to long-term capability development. The introduction of the Indian Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and the launch of the Shakti initiative, coupled with an enhanced financial outlay of Rs 40,000 crore, further strengthen the ecosystem and reflect the government’s commitment to building a future-ready ecosystem across equipment, materials, full-stack IP, and resilient supply chains. The focus on domestic component manufacturing, R&D, and workforce upskilling is a critical step towards strengthening India’s position in the global electronics value chain. These measures will reduce import dependence and create the foundation for innovation-led, sustainable growth.”

Deepak Pahwa, Chairman, Pahwa Group & Managing Director, Bry-Air, stressed sustainability:

“Budget 2026 marks a structural shift in India’s semiconductor strategy by recognising that scale without sustainability is not globally competitive. With India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and a proposed Rs 40,000 crore outlay for electronics manufacturing, the focus now moves beyond capacity creation to process excellence. Semiconductor plants are among the most energy and environment intensive manufacturing units, making energy efficiency, contamination control and decarbonisation non-negotiable. India’s real advantage will come from building fabs that are cleaner, more efficient and cost-competitive by design. This approach will determine whether India becomes a serious semiconductor manufacturing hub or merely an assembly destination.”

Technology, AI, and Services: Talent and Adoption Focus

Initiatives like AI capacity building for 25 crore people, Bharat VISTAAR tools, and AI impact assessments support applied tech in governance, manufacturing, and services.

Nakul Kundra, CEO & Co-Founder, Devnagri, highlighted democratization:

“The Union Budget 2026 strengthens the Government’s initiative to make technology, especially AI, a core driver of India’s next growth phase. Equally encouraging is the Budget’s emphasis on applied technology adoption, from AI-driven customised advisory tools and multilingual platforms like Bharat Vistar, to the use of AI for more efficient, transparent along with data-driven governance and is highly celebrated and reflects a strong commitment to integrating such initiatives at scale. Initiatives such as the ₹10,000 crore MSME Growth Fund and the renewed focus on cities as growth engines can meaningfully democratise AI beyond large enterprises, particularly across manufacturing and public services. That said, real impact will depend on execution, specifically lowering compute costs, expanding domestic data-centre capacity, enabling language-first AI systems, and building high-quality Indian datasets anchored in data dignity, consent, and trust.”

Raghav Gupta, Founder & CEO, Futurense, praised people-centric investment:

“Budget 2026–27 reinforces India’s intent to lead in the AI age by putting talent and capability building at the centre of national progress. The government’s three Kartavya – driving growth, strengthening people’s capacity and ensuring opportunity for all align strongly with the direction in which the technology ecosystem is moving. The introduction of the Capacity Building AI Missions for 25 crore people, along with support for the National Quantum Mission, Anusandhan Research Fund, and the R&D and Innovation Fund, signals a long term commitment to creating both the talent and the infrastructure required for an AI-native economy. This is not just an investment in technology but an investment in people.”

Kishan Sundar, SVP and Chief Technology Officer, Maveric Systems, noted banking relevance:

“Union Budget 2026 makes it clear that AI and IT services will play a central role in shaping the next phase of India’s banking and financial services growth. As credit demand remains strong and banks operate under tighter funding and regulatory conditions, the emphasis on digital infrastructure, AI-led innovation and technology-enabled productivity is both timely and necessary. The Budget’s focus on strengthening IT services and deepening digital capabilities provides added momentum for banks to accelerate AI adoption across credit decisioning, risk management, compliance and customer engagement. With increasing system complexity and scale, AI-driven automation and data-led decisioning are becoming essential for banks to grow responsibly while improving efficiency and resilience. Overall, the Budget reinforces technology as a foundational pillar for sustainable growth in the banking ecosystem.”

The Union Budget 2026-27 delivers a balanced, execution-focused strategy that prioritizes infrastructure resilience, manufacturing self-reliance, MSME scaling, and tech-led productivity. Industry reactions reflect optimism that these measures will lower costs, enhance global integration, and drive inclusive, sustainable growth toward a developed India.

Last Updated on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 1:14 pm by Startup Newswire Team

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