Budget implications for the agriculture sector

Budget 2026-27, presented on Sunday,and Economic Survey 2025-26, presented on Friday, both referenced the “reform express” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about earlier, highlighting the pace of structural changes underway.

- Shweta Saini and Pulkit Khatri

Finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman noted on Sunday that over 350 reforms have been undertaken since August 15, 2025, and indicated that the coming year would continue this momentum. Against the backdrop of such dynamism, one expected agriculture —so central to inflation, livelihoods, sustainability, and food systems —to feature prominently in Sitharaman’s speech, in its outlining of the FM's priorities for growth. Itdid not. The budget documents, however, present nuances worth discussing.Farmers and farming did not explicitly appear among the six focus areas identified for accelerating and sustaining economic growth in the financial year 2026-27. These priorities are: (i) scaling up manufacturing in seven strategic and frontier sectors; (ii) rejuvenating legacy industrial clusters; (iii) creating “Champion MSMEs”; (iv) delivering a powerful push to infrastructure; (v) ensuring long-term energy security and stability; and (vi) developing City Economic Regions.