Can Budget 2026 turn enterprise policy into jobs for Viksit Bharat?

India’s Viksit Bharat aspiration by 2047 is no longer a distant vision. It is now reflected in near-term choices about productivity, competitiveness, and jobs. The Union Budget 2026–27 sharpens this focus, emphasising the institutional and economic capacity required to sustain high growth and broaden participation.

The Budget builds on foundations laid steadily over the past decade. Digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion, formalisation, and entrepreneurship promotion have reshaped how businesses interact with the state and the market. The question now is how to convert this access into sustained enterprise capability.

At the heart of this capacity-building agenda lies a clear recognition: India’s next phase of development will be shaped not only by large corporations or high-growth startups, but by the ability of small and mid-sized businesses to scale, formalise, and compete.

Viksit Bharat and the centrality of enterprise-led job creation

The Viksit Bharat vision demands India generate productive, family-sustaining jobs, higher incomes, and competitiveness across sectors and regions. Small and mid-sized businesses are critical to this outcome.

MSMEs account for roughly a third of India’s GDP and close to half of its exports. They anchor regional employment, turning national growth into household prosperity. Operating largely in Tier II and III cities, they are situated in places where future employment growth must occur.

The Budget’s focus on strengthening MSMEs reflects an understanding that India’s “missing middle” of scaled, professionally run enterprises must expand significantly over the next two decades. Measures aimed at easing growth-stage financing and reducing operational friction directly respond to this structural gap. Without this expansion, the demographic dividend risks turning into a demographic constraint.

From access to capability: The next development challenge

India has improved access for small businesses through digital payments, GST, Udyam registration, public procurement platforms, and expanded credit mechanisms. Budget 2026 extends this trajectory by addressing key friction points that constrain enterprises from growing once they enter the system.

A dedicated ₹10,000-crore SME Growth Fund provides long-term risk capital for high-potential enterprises. Enhancements to the Self-Reliant India (SRI) Fund build on this, while a stronger Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS)—with mandated CPSE usage and public procurement integration—addresses liquidity and cash-flow challenges. The proposal to revive legacy industrial clusters acknowledges that competitiveness is often collective. Shared infrastructure, supplier networks, and common standards can unlock productivity gains that individual firms cannot achieve alone. Similarly, the introduction of corporate ‘mitras’ reflects an appreciation of the compliance burden faced by small businesses, particularly outside major metros.

Together, these measures improve the enterprise environment by lowering transaction costs, improving predictability, and reducing friction. However, for many business owners, navigating schemes, platforms, and compliance requirements continue to involve fragmented information and episodic support. The next phase of reform must therefore move beyond access towards building enterprise capability at scale.

Enterprise capability as national infrastructure

Capability-building at scale is rarely achieved through isolated interventions. It requires systems that help enterprises learn, decide, and execute repeatedly. In advanced economies, this role is often played by deep advisory markets, industry networks, and institutional support. In India, the scale and diversity of the MSME base demand a different approach.

This is where technology-enabled, ecosystem-driven models become essential. Digital platforms can make high-quality guidance accessible. AI can personalise support based on context. Local partnerships can ground national systems in regional realities. Seen this way, enterprise capability begins to function as national infrastructure—quietly enabling productivity, competitiveness, and job creation across the economy.

Entrepreneurial philanthropy and other mission-driven institutions can play a complementary role in building this layer. Operating between government, markets, and civil society, they can help address complex systems challenges that require experimentation, iteration, and long-term commitment without substituting the roles of public policy or private enterprise.

Local ecosystems as the unit of delivery

Enterprise growth is inherently contextual. A manufacturing firm in a Gujarat cluster faces different constraints from a services business in a Tier II city or an agribusiness operating near rural markets. Market access, workforce availability, supplier networks, and institutional capacity vary widely.

Systems designed to support enterprise growth, therefore, work most effectively when local ecosystems serve as the unit of delivery. National platforms and shared knowledge can be combined with region-specific experts, partners, and resources. This allows learning to compound across regions while keeping execution grounded locally.

This approach aligns with the Budget’s emphasis on city economic regions and regional growth engines. National ambitions are realised locally. Systems that respect this reality are more likely to succeed.

Linking enterprise growth, skilling, and job fulfilment

A persistent challenge in India’s development journey has been the misalignment between skilling efforts and employment outcomes. Training programmes often operate independently of enterprise growth trajectories, leading to mismatches between supply and demand.

Treating business growth and job fulfilment as part of a single system can change this. As enterprises scale, their talent needs become clearer and more predictable. Systems that can surface these needs enable skilling initiatives to respond in a more targeted and timely manner. This approach complements the Budget’s proposal to strengthen the education-to-employment pipeline. When enterprise demand, skilling provision, and placement mechanisms are aligned, job creation becomes more durable and inclusive.

A shared responsibility for the next phase

Budget 2026 reflects a maturation of India’s development strategy—from access to capability, from schemes to systems, and from intent to outcomes.

This shift will require coordinated execution by government, industry, financial institutions, technology platforms, and enterprise leaders themselves.

Further, Viksit Bharat will be achieved not through any single programme, but through the cumulative effect of millions of enterprises becoming more productive, more competitive, and more resilient.

Small and mid-sized businesses are central to this transformation. The opportunity now is to ensure that the changes highlighted in Union Budget 2026 are complemented by systems that help enterprises use them effectively, translating policy ambition into sustained and inclusive economic opportunity.

Success will be measured not by the number of schemes launched, but by enterprises that hire confidently, invest predictably, and compete beyond their local markets.

(Gurnani is co-founder and vice chairman, AIONOS; Patel is president-entrepreneurship, Wadhwani Foundation. Views are personal.)