The Union Budget 2026 places artificial intelligence at the centre of India’s economic and technology strategy, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirming a significant expansion of AI driven initiatives as part of the government’s fiscal roadmap.

The Budget outlines a coordinated push to scale artificial intelligence across priority sectors, supported by targeted public investment, institutional mechanisms, and policy alignment. These measures are designed to accelerate AI adoption in services, agriculture, manufacturing, and digital public infrastructure, while strengthening India’s domestic innovation and talent ecosystem.

A key focus of Budget 2026 is the creation of enabling frameworks to assess the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, skills, and productivity, alongside initiatives that promote responsible deployment and sector specific use cases. The government has positioned AI not as a standalone technology investment, but as a foundational capability to modernise service delivery, enhance competitiveness, and support enterprise led growth.

This renewed emphasis reinforces the government’s view of artificial intelligence as a strategic growth engine for India’s economy. The proposed interventions are expected to advance the country’s digital transformation agenda, deepen technological capabilities across industries, and strengthen India’s standing in the global AI landscape.