Pre-budget quote on behalf of Swati Jain, Director, The Banyan – India’s leading preschool and corporate day care brand
“As India approaches the Union Budget 2026, it is important to recognise that early childhood education and corporate childcare are not peripheral welfare measures, but core economic enablers. For millions of working parents, particularly women professionals, access to reliable, high-quality preschool and day care services directly determines their ability to enter, remain, and grow within the workforce.
India’s aspirations of higher labour force participation, improved productivity, and inclusive growth cannot be achieved without strengthening the childcare ecosystem. Corporate day care facilities and professionally run preschools ease the dual burden faced by working families, reduce career interruptions, and enable organisations to retain skilled talent.
We urge policymakers to consider targeted measures in the 2026 Budget such as enhanced tax incentives for employer-supported childcare, simplified compliance norms, and increased investment in early learning infrastructure. Supporting this sector will not only benefit working parents but also ensure better developmental outcomes for children during their most formative years.
A future-ready India must invest early in the systems that allow parents to participate fully in the economy. Strengthening early childhood education is, ultimately, an investment in India’s long-term human capital and global competitiveness.”
Pre-budget quote on behalf of Rajashri Sai, Founder & CEO, Impactree.ai , a global enterprise intelligence company
“As India navigates the complexities of global supply chain shifts, the Union Budget 2026 presents a pivotal opportunity to redefine the competitive edge of our MSME sector. Now more than ever, it is imperative that the budget focuses on strengthening climate finance infrastructure specifically for small and medium enterprises.
The bridge to this transition is technology. We hope to see the government incentivize digital ecosystems that help MSMEs translate their sustainability performance into financial credibility. By leveraging data-driven platforms, we can simplify the reporting process, allowing small businesses to unlock ‘green’ capital that was previously out of reach. This isn’t just about compliance; it is about building a ‘Green Credit’ framework where an enterprise’s social and environmental resilience becomes an asset on its balance sheet. The ask is to successfully democratize access to climate finance through technological intervention as it will help India build a growth model that is both resilient to global shocks and highly investable for the future. We look forward to a Budget that empowers MSMEs to be the vanguard of India’s sustainable industrial revolution.”
Pre-budget quote on behalf of Vivek Shankaranarayanan, Co-founder, Impactree.ai , a global enterprise intelligence company
“While the progress India has made in building Digital Public Infrastructure and open data rails is commendable, the next frontier for the nation isn’t just about expanding access; it is about building Systems Intelligence on top of these foundations. India’s unique opportunity lies in the development of specialized Business Language Models.
We expect the Budget to incentivize an ecosystem where AI doesn’t exist in a vacuum but integrates deeply with DPI, existing enterprise stacks, and real-world operational data. The goal should be to create models that understand the nuances of Indian supply chains, MSME credit cycles, and environmental metrics. By focusing on these integrated stacks, we can move beyond ‘chatbots’ to ‘decision engines’ that translate physical and financial signals into scalable, actionable intelligence. If the Budget prioritizes the interoperability of open data rails with AI research, we can empower sectors like climate finance and sustainable manufacturing with durable economic value. We are looking for policy support that encourages the ‘Sovereign AI’ mission to prioritize verticalized intelligence—ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just about participation, but about architectural leadership in solving complex, ground-level challenges.”
Pre-budget quote on behalf of Sai Pattabiram, Founder & MD, Zuppa , a defence drone tech company
“The Indian drone industry is emerging from a critical phase of disruption—one that has fundamentally reshaped its dominant business model. With a sharper focus on indigenous component manufacturing, cybersecurity, and a growing recognition of drones as dual-use strategic assets, the sector is now at an inflection point. As we approach the Union Budget, we are hopeful of decisive policy support through Design-Linked Incentives, targeted PLI schemes, and export-focused incentives coupled with the lowering of barriers to export within the SCOMET regulations that can help Indian drone manufacturers scale with confidence. The post-disruption ecosystem is not only addressing India’s sovereign needs in defence, infrastructure, and security, but is also solving challenges faced by governments worldwide—resilient supply chains, secure systems, and trusted hardware. With the right fiscal and policy backing, India has a real opportunity to evolve into a credible global alternative to the Chinese drone supply chain, across both platforms and critical components. A future-ready Budget can accelerate this transition, enabling Indian deep-tech companies to compete globally while strengthening national security and technological self-reliance.”
Pre-budget quote on behalf of Venkatesh Sai, Founder & Technical Director, Zuppa , a defence drone tech company
“From a technology standpoint, the Union Budget 2026 can be transformative for India’s cyber-physical and drone ecosystem by recognising secure computing, real-time AI, and indigenous hardware as national priorities. As drones increasingly operate in sensitive, mission-critical environments, policy support must extend beyond assembly to deep-tech innovation—covering secure motherboards, real-time control computing, AI-driven autonomy, and cyber-resilient architectures. Incentives for design-first engineering, aerospace-grade manufacturing standards, and indigenous IP creation will allow Indian companies to build globally competitive systems from the ground up. We also look forward to frameworks that support dual-use technologies, enabling seamless innovation across defence, mobility, and industrial applications. Investments in certification, testing infrastructure, and export enablement for trusted drone technologies can significantly shorten go-to-market timelines. A technology-led Budget approach will not only strengthen India’s strategic autonomy but also position the country as a global hub for secure, intelligent cyber-physical systems.”