TOI Budget Dialogue 2026: Tech talent serving as a big asset in India's digital push

NEW DELHI: The Times of India Budget Dialogues 2026 unfolded in New Delhi on Tuesday, bringing together policymakers, economists, industry leaders and opinion-makers to decode the priorities, promises and pressures of the Union Budget. The platform set the stage for a wide-ranging discussion on India’s economic roadmap at a time of global uncertainty and domestic aspirations. To examine what this budget means for infrastructure, manufacturing, jobs, agriculture, exports, and social development and what it means for India’s journey. Addressing the gathering, Prasad Sanyal, Group Business Head, Times Internet, delivered the opening address, underscoring the importance of informed public discourse around the budget and its far-reaching impact on growth, governance and everyday lives.He said, “TOI Budget Dialogue would serve as a platform to move beyond headlines and spreadsheets, and to decode intent, direction and long term impact.” He emphased that "conversation must not end with first reactions, they must bring clarity, they must bring together diverse view points, and above all they must help translate policy into perspective.” Anchored in the theme "March towards Viksit Bharat today's dialogue looks at developments as more than growth alone. It is about resilience, it is about opportunity.” Following the opening address, Abhishek Singh, additional secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology interacted with TOI senior editor Pankaj Doval, for a conversation on ‘India's Fiscal Vision for a Digital and AI future.’He noted that India-US relations didn’t have any uncertainty in the tech domain and on the back of the trade deal announced between the two nations yesterday, it will only boost the country's dream in tech and AI and will lead to greater ramification for the India AI Summit slated for later in February. He also went on to say the relations between India and US on the technology front are “they lead in tech we lead in talent and between tech and talent we build trust.”Moving forward the discussion, Panel 1 took the centre stage at the event, a session titled ‘Budget Uncluttered’ moderated by Pankaj Doval.The panel included tax expert Surya Bhatia, AIONOS co-founder and vice chairman and former CEO & MD of Tech Mahindra CP Gurnani, content creator Sanjay Kathuria, Nasscom Ashish vice president and head of poublic policy Aggarwal, business economist Rumki Majumdar. The discussion began with perception of Budget increasingly built through social media and the kind of image and impact it creates. Then Sanjay Kathurai pointed towards the perceived muted reaction to the Budget announcement on social platforms highlighting “the people judging it there are not the policy makers rather the people who are affected by it.” Addressing the unhappiness among the middle class on social media over not meeting the expectations, he drew a parallel between the Indian and US Budgets over the past. In comparison the US, India in last decade rolled out some relief to ordinary citizens (middle class) on tax front around five to six times to just two occasions by US (which were not even significant) to make a point that social media judges things every minute and in the moments perhaps not taking into account the larger picture, which put the expectations itself on a wrong footing to begin with. Building on points made by Sanjay, CP Gurnani talked about the government approach towards the budget terming it a “very responsible budget.” Adding, it is a balancing Budget, because in the “US they are just increasing the deficit but we are controlling it.”He further emphasized on the importance of both stated and unstated communication spelled through the budget in the terms of performance of both physical and digital infrastructure, saying its wrapper today might be AI. Tomorrow it can be quant computing…but we need to stay focused on the route to becoming the technology capital of the world..” Adding whether we do it through MSME, start-ups or data centres.” Rumki Majumdar called it a “Budget for long term and Viksit Bharat,” saying it moved from the response oriented budget over the last five years, where the country was facing one crisis other from pandemic to Russia-Ukraine war, geopolitics, and tariffs, reflecting on Indian economy’s resilience and the budget builds on it. Adding the policies from AI to start-ups to critical minerals are all at the end of day meant for ordinary people as it would incentivise manufacturing leading to more jobs and growth. Talking about digital infrastructure and innovation Ashish Aggarwal said, “the opportunity is the shift to leap frogging from catching up. That is the real dividend from technology, and for us our biggest asset is our talent and that is helping us leap frog, and we’re building on it.” Adding another perspective Surya Bhatia said that, we can’t expect a big bang budget every time and emphasized on the “need to move away from such thought process.” Saying that it’s a process that needs to be followed on a regular basis and the government is doing so including in taxation. He went further to say, given we are a developing economy at some point both the middle class and every one else has to face the brunt. The Union Budget 2026 comes at a critical juncture for the Indian economy, as the government balances fiscal consolidation with growth imperatives, amid a slowing global economy, geopolitical tensions and evolving trade dynamics. With inflation management, job creation, infrastructure push and welfare spending remaining key focus areas, expectations from the budget have been high across sectors.As India positions itself as a resilient growth engine among major economies, stakeholders are keen to assess how policy choices align with long-term goals of sustainability, competitiveness and inclusive development.Against this backdrop, the TOI Budget Dialogues 2026 served as a forum to examine the fine print of the budget, assess its implications across sectors, and debate whether it delivers on the government’s stated economic vision.