Budget 2026: Capex, Jobs, Fiscal Credibility Top Priorities, Says Pradeep Gupta

• Pradeep Gupta of Anand Rathi expects Budget 2026 to focus on public capex continuity, jobs, human capital, and fiscal credibility.
• Digital companies are seen as a force multiplier for productivity and efficiency, not just standalone GDP engines, with UPI scaling to 20 billion monthly transactions.
• Top sectoral bets include domestic cyclicals (capex, manufacturing), financials (banks, insurers), and select consumption (premiumisation).
• Real estate is a 'dark horse' due to end-user driven growth and cleaner developer balance sheets; IT is a 'contrarian bet' with normalized valuations.
• RBI unlikely to slash interest rates to 4% this year; quick commerce funding will focus on unit economics and profitability.

Why It Matters: Budget 2026 will prioritize sustainable, domestically driven growth through capex, jobs, and fiscal prudence.