By:-Ravi Kunwar (VP and CEO, HMD India and APAC)
“The Finance Minister must be lauded for her broad vision in covering several key sectors in the Budget. The hiked allocation of ₹40,000 crore for the Electronic Components Manufacturing Scheme will give a fillip to varied verticals, including the telecom industry. Similarly, the proposed launch of the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, focused on industry-led R&D and training centres for chips, is another welcome announcement.
The move to transform the Customs warehousing framework into a warehouse operator-centric system via self-declarations, risk-based audit and electronic tracking will eliminate the problems of officer-linked approvals. This will reduce transaction delays and lower compliance costs.
The decision to create a High-Powered ‘Education to Employment and Enterprise’ Standing Committee to help in assessing the impact of emerging technologies, such as AI, on jobs and skill requirements, will be useful in introducing suitable measures to mitigate the downside. The promotion of environmentally sustainable cargo movement through the proposed East to West corridor is also good news. Likewise, the decision to build seven high-speed rail corridors between cities as growth connectors will give a huge boost to industrial activities across India.”
By:-Manoj Nair (Head of Applications at Fujitsu)
“The Finance Minister has presented a forward-looking Union Budget that strongly reinforces India’s Viksit Bharat ambition, and conducive policies to make India a global technology hub. There is a huge focus on AI by positioning it as a force multiplier, combined with robust policies to support the growth of data centres. The launch of the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will accelerate the development of a resilient semiconductor ecosystem, spanning materials, equipment, full-stack IP design, and enhancing supply chains.
The move to approve Safe Harbour for IT services through an automated, rule-based mechanism is a significant reform that enhances ease of doing business and provides certainty in taxation for the industry. Equally encouraging is the focus on positioning data centres as critical infrastructure, along with the proposal to extend tax holidays till 2047 for global cloud service providers operating from India.
Together, these measures will help in boosting investor confidence, enhance innovation, create long-term growth opportunities for semiconductor and IT services companies, including data centre players, while further strengthening India’s role in the global technology value chain.”
By:-Bimal Khandelwal (CEO, STT GDC India)
“The Union Budget 2026 marks a decisive policy intervention that holistically addresses capital formation, demand creation, and long-term sustainability for India’s data centre sector. The proposed tax holiday till 2047 for foreign cloud providers using Indian data centres is expected to unlock increased foreign direct investment, position India as a preferred global digital infrastructure destination, and materially enhance its competitiveness in attracting hyperscale and AI-led workloads. This, in turn, will drive sustained demand for low latency, resilient digital infrastructure critical to enabling India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 digital economy agenda. We welcome the Government’s integrated approach, which aligns fiscal incentives with infrastructure readiness and sustainability priorities. At STT GDC India, we are well positioned to support this next phase of growth through scalable, AI-ready, and sustainable data centre infrastructure that underpins India’s digital future.”
