Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, February 1, laid out a six-point roadmap to push India’s economic growth faster and keep it stable in the long run. Presenting the Union Budget, Sitharaman shared that the government’s focus will remain on manufacturing, infrastructure, MSMEs and urban development.
Sitharaman stated,"Under our first duty, to accelerate and sustain a sustainable economic growth, I propose interventions in six areas.”
Six focus areas for growth
Explaining the plan, Sitharaman listed the six priority areas as: "Scaling up manufacturing in several strategic and frontier sectors, rejuvenating legacy industrial sectors, creating champion MSMEs, delivering a powerful push for infrastructure, ensuring long-term security and stability, and developing city economic regions."
Later in her speech, she reiterated the same framework and underlined that the roadmap is aimed at long-term economic strength and job creation.
Manufacturing at the centre
A major part of the strategy is to scale up manufacturing in key sectors such as health, electronics, semiconductors, chemicals and capital goods. Announcing a new initiative, Sitharaman said, “Biopharma Shakti, meaning biopharma strategy for health advancement through knowledge, technology and innovation.”
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She pointed out that India’s health challenges are changing. “India's disease burden is observed to be shifting towards non communicable diseases like diabetes, cancer and autoimmune disorders,” she said, adding that biologic medicines are crucial for better quality of life.
To support this, she announced, “It is proposed the biopharma Shakti, with an outlay of 10,000 crores over the next five years,” aimed at making India a global biopharma manufacturing hub. The plan includes new research institutes and “a network of 1000 accredited India clinical trials sites.”
Semiconductors, electronics and chemicals
Semiconductors are another key area of the Union budget 2026. Sitharaman said, “India's semiconductor mission… extended India's semiconductor sector capabilities,” and added, “We will launch ISM… and fortify supply chains.”
In electronics, she noted that the electronics components manufacturing scheme launched in April 2025 “already has investment commitments and double the targets.”
For chemicals, she announced support for states to set up “three dedicated chemical parks” to reduce import dependence.
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MSMEs, infrastructure and cities
Alongside manufacturing, the roadmap focuses on “creating champion MSMEs” and “rejuvenating legacy industrial sectors.” Infrastructure will get “a powerful push,” while long-term security, stability and the development of city economic regions are also part of the plan.
Together, the six-point roadmap outlines how the government plans to drive growth while building resilience for the years ahead.
