Budget 2026: Nirmala Sitharaman allocates Rs 10,000 crore to make India biopharma hub

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed to push India’s biopharma sector under a Bio Pharma Shakti programme with an allocation of Rs 10000 crore for the next five years.

Bio Pharma Shakti is aimed at building at making ecosystem for biopharma and biosimilars, she said, presenting the Budget in the Parliament on Sunday. Among other announcments, she proposed scaling up manufacturing in strategic and frontier sectors and developing city economic regions.

In her initial remarks, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said since her government assumed office, Indian economic trajectory is marked by fiscal discipline and sustained growth. She stressed that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen action over ambivalance, and reform over rhetoric, keeping Atmanirbharta or self-reliance as lodestar.

Watch Live: Smt @nsitharaman presents Union Budget 2026–27 in Parliament #ViksitBharatBudget @sansad_tv @PIB_India https://t.co/DieMezvgTp

— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) February 1, 2026

“Since we assumed office 12 years ago, India’s economic trajectory has been marked by stability, fiscal discipline, sustained growth and moderate inflation,” she said. She continued that India will balance ambition with inclusion going ahead.

Finance Minister Sitharaman presented her record ninth consecutive Union budget today in the Parliament. On Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey of India in Parliament for the financial year 2025-26.

The tabling of the Economic Survey ahead of the Budget follows the long-standing tradition of outlining the state of the economy before detailing future fiscal plans. The document provided a comprehensive, data-backed review of the economy’s performance over the previous year and offers a broad roadmap for future policy direction. As the government’s flagship annual report, it reviews key economic developments over the past 12 months.

India’s real GDP growth for 2026-27 is projected in the range of 6.8-7.2 per cent, reflecting sustained medium-term growth capacity amid a challenging global environment.

India recorded the lowest inflation rate since the beginning of the CPI series, with April-December 2025 average headline inflation coming in at 1.7 per cent, attributing to general disinflationary trend in food and fuel prices. Looking ahead, the inflation outlook remains benign, supported by favourable supply side conditions and the gradual pass-through of GST rate rationalisation. (ANI)