FICCI’s survey highlights industry confidence, with 80 per cent upbeat on India’s growth and 50 per cent projecting GDP at 7-8 per cent in FY2026‑27.
India Inc. is strongly optimistic about the economy’s prospects, with expectations that support for infrastructure, defence and exports will continue, according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)’s Pre‑Budget Survey 2026‑27.
The survey reflects strong optimism across the Indian industry, with nearly 80 per cent of respondents expressing confidence in the country’s growth trajectory. About half of the participants expect GDP growth to remain in the 7-8 per cent range in FY2026‑27, reaffirming faith in India’s medium‑term fundamentals despite persistent global uncertainties. The industry also emphasised fiscal prudence, with around 42 per cent of respondents expecting the fiscal deficit target of 4.4 per cent of GDP to be achieved in FY2025‑26, reinforcing confidence in the Government’s consolidation roadmap.
Three macroeconomic priorities clearly emerge for the Union Budget 2026‑27: job creation, a sustained thrust on infrastructure, and stronger support to exports. Respondents identified infrastructure, manufacturing, defence and MSMEs as sectors likely to be in focus.
The government must continue to emphasise manufacturing and capital expenditure. Setting up a mega electronics industrial cluster to co‑locate original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firms and component suppliers will be critical to push this strategic sector. Equally important is a stronger thrust on defence manufacturing.
The industry has recommended enhancing the capital outlay share in defence allocations to 30 per cent to modernise frontline assets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), counter‑UAV systems, electronic warfare (EW) systems and AI‑enabled capabilities. Additionally, enhancing drone production‑linked incentive outlay to ₹10 billion and establishing a ₹10 billion drone R&D fund will give a boost to this emerging sector.
Export Support Priorities
Given rising global trade frictions, uncertainty on tariffs and non‑tariff barriers such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and deforestation‑related regulations, expectations of stronger export support in the Union Budget are evident. Respondents emphasised the need for streamlining trade facilitation and customs processes, reducing logistics and port bottlenecks, and strengthening export incentives and refund mechanisms. It is recommended that the Union Budget enhance allocations under Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) to improve competitiveness.
The industry also looks forward to reforms in the special economic zone (SEZ) policy and rationalisation of customs tariffs. Converging rate slabs to three levels would simplify the system, bring certainty and reduce compliance costs.
On the direct tax front, respondents highlighted expectations around simplifying compliance through digitisation, providing tax certainty, and improving dispute resolution and litigation management.