3 months ago
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The U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) has welcomed the Union Budget 2026-27, saying its absorption connected technology-driven reforms, sectoral competitiveness and commercialized facilitation enhances the country’s attractiveness arsenic a planetary concern destination.
Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget connected Sunday (February 1, 2026).
Also Read: Union Budget 2026-27 | Industry reactions
USISPF commended the Indian Government for delivering a “progressive and broad fiscal model that supports sustained growth, occupation creation, and enhanced easiness of doing business.
“The Budget’s absorption connected technology-driven reforms, sectoral competitiveness, and commercialized facilitation aligns powerfully with USISPF’s priorities and enhances India’s attractiveness arsenic a planetary concern destination,” it said successful a statement.
President and CEO of USISPF Mukesh Aghi said successful the connection that the Budget advances captious reforms crossed customs, taxation, and strategical sectors that heighten competitiveness, boost investment, and modernise India’s economical architecture.
Also Read: Credible and creditable | On Union Budget 2026-27
“The enactment for semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and logistics volition assistance substance next-generation growth. The Government’s banking inaugural is besides a cardinal enabler for superior intermediation and investment, ensuring that fiscal resources travel efficiently to substance maturation crossed sectors,” helium said.
USISPF peculiarly welcomed the Finance Minister’s announcement introducing a semipermanent taxation vacation for unreality services provided done section information centres.
“This landmark argumentation has the imaginable to bash for India’s unreality and information centre ecosystem what the IT services incentives did successful the aboriginal 2000s, catalyse large-scale planetary investment, grow export revenues, and thrust semipermanent occupation instauration and capableness development,” Mr. Aghi said.
“Industry besides welcomes the measures announced to nurture the section AI, IT, and information centre ecosystem. By incentivising investment, supporting infrastructure, and promoting innovation, these initiatives volition fortify India’s exertion ecosystem, heighten competitiveness, and presumption the state arsenic a planetary hub for precocious integer services,” helium said.
He added that portion the Budget delivers important argumentation progress, USISPF remains committed to moving intimately with the Government to code ongoing manufacture priorities, including strengthening skills development, accelerating quality resolution, and enhancing infrastructure and fiscal assemblage frameworks. “We look guardant to a constructive dialog to guarantee that India’s maturation travel remains inclusive, forward-looking, and globally competitive,” helium said.
USISPF peculiarly welcomed the broad customs reforms, reflecting a “strong” committedness to modernising commercialized processes and strengthening logistics efficiency.
The rollout of end-to-end integer and technology-enabled solutions including AI-powered non-intrusive inspection, phased scanning of each containers astatine large ports, and hold of the Single Window mechanics to explicit cargo volition heighten transparency, trim dwell times, and streamline cargo movement, it said.
On the tariff front, USISPF said targeted customs work rationalisation supports India’s manufacturing and vigor modulation priorities.
Export sectors specified arsenic leather and footwear person extended duty-free input windows, portion baggage work for idiosyncratic imports has been rationalised from 20% to 10%.
“These measures are expected to trim input costs for sunrise sectors, simplify the tariff structure, and fortify India’s export competitiveness,” it said.
USISPF welcomed important reforms successful nonstop taxation and transportation pricing, including simplification of transportation pricing and harmless harbour rules to heighten competitiveness and trim litigation for the IT services assemblage and Global Capability Centres (GCCs).
Key reforms see broadening harmless harbour eligibility to ₹2,000 crore, consolidating each IT services into a unified class with a 15.5% harmless harbour margin, automating approvals to trim nonstop taxation interface, and fast-tracking Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) wrong a two-year timeline extendable by six months.
The hold of the modified instrumentality installation is expected to amended predictability and promote investment, it said.
Noting that the Budget provides a semipermanent taxation vacation until 2047 for unreality services provided done section information centres, USISPF said the argumentation has the imaginable to catalyse large-scale planetary investment, grow export revenues, and thrust semipermanent occupation instauration and capableness development.
Industry besides welcomes measures announced to nurture the section AI, IT, and information centre ecosystem, which volition fortify India’s exertion ecosystem, heighten competitiveness, and presumption the state arsenic a planetary hub for precocious integer services.
Beyond customs and taxation reforms, the Budget emphasises cardinal sectoral absorption areas including healthcare, skills development, semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, logistics, and agriculture and allied services. Notably, India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and a ₹40,000 crore PLI strategy for electronics awesome sustained enactment for precocious exertion manufacturing and proviso concatenation development.
The Government has besides announced a high-level committee connected Banking to reappraisal the banking sector’s structure, efficiency, and preparedness to enactment India’s adjacent signifier of maturation portion safeguarding fiscal stability, inclusion, and user protection. This inaugural is captious for strengthening superior intermediation, mobilising resources efficiently, and enabling concern that drives broad-based economical growth.
