Budget 2026: Experts Hail Focus on Job-Ready Talent, Formal Workforce Development

• Union Budget 2026-27 prioritizes skilling, MSMEs, capital expenditure, and future-facing industries to create a formal, job-ready, and geographically distributed talent ecosystem.
• Experts like Sachin Alug and Kartik Narayan emphasize the budget's focus on AI-led digital capabilities, skill transformation, and bridging the curriculum-industry gap.
• The budget aims for sustained job creation through targeted investments in high-value sectors like biopharma, manufacturing, semiconductors, and a new Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund.
• Measures like the rationalization of TCS and the District Hostel scheme for women apprentices are expected to boost ease of doing business and increase women's participation in the workforce.
• The budget also recognizes the gig economy, proposing social security, digital ID cards, and access to government services for gig workers, aiming for a Viksit Bharat with formal employment.

Why It Matters: Budget 2026-27 focuses on skilling, MSMEs, and future industries to build a formal, job-ready talent base.