India Boosts Infrastructure And Defence Spending

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the 2026 national budget on Feb. 1, 2026, unveiling $133 billion for infrastructure and $85 billion for defence, rises of about 9% and 15% respectively. The plan allocates support for data centres, artificial intelligence, rare-earth corridors, semiconductors and seven high-speed rail corridors, and offers a tax holiday for foreign cloud providers until 2047. The measures aim to spur manufacturing, jobs and export growth.