Union Budget 2026: FM Sitharaman flags health challenges; unveils Rs 10,000 crore Biopharma Shakti

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2026–27 on Sunday, unveiled a Rs 10,000 crore biopharma initiative and announced the expansion of Ayurveda institutions to meet growing global demand for traditional medicine. To bolster India’s position as a global biopharma hub, the Budget proposed Biopharma Shakti, a new initiative with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over five years to boost research, manufacturing and innovation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector. The Budget also announced plans to strengthen institutions for allied health professionals, including the proposal to set up three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda. Sitharaman said, “I propose to set up three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda; upgrade Ayush pharmacies and drug testing labs and make available more skilled persons; upgrade the WHO global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar.”Healthcare allocations under the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Health Research had shown a gradual increase over the past five years, rising from Rs 80,694 crore in FY21 to Rs 84,471 crore in FY22, before declining to Rs 75,731 crore in FY23.Spending recovered to Rs 83,149 crore in FY24, increased to a revised estimate of Rs 89,974 crore in FY25, and was pegged at Rs 99,859 crore in the Budget Estimates for FY26. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her ninth consecutive Union Budget—becoming the first finance minister in India to achieve this milestone—and also the first to present a Union Budget on a Sunday. The Economic Survey tabled ahead of the Budget had projected India’s economic growth at 6.8–7.2 per cent in FY27, providing the broader macroeconomic context for social sector spending.Public health advocates had previously pointed out that Union government health spending had declined in the post-Covid period as a share of GDP and as a proportion of total government expenditure. A network of over 350 organisations and individuals demanded that the health budget be at least doubled, noting that public health spending stood at around 1.15 per cent of GDP—well below the 2.5 per cent target set under the National Health Policy.