Budget 2026 reaffirms agriculture as both an economic and strategic priority. Increased investment in agri-infrastructure, irrigation, climate-resilient farming, and agri-tech innovation aims to boost farmer incomes while ensuring food security. Key industry voices respond below.
Mr. Padmanand V, Partner, and Agriculture Industry Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat: The Budget’s support for the agriculture sector rightly focuses on high-growth sub-sectors such as fisheries and livestock. Initiatives include Amrit Sarovars with 500 related reservoirs, fishery and livestock FPOs, and integrated livestock value chain promotion programmes. High-value crops such as coconut, sandalwood, cashew, and almonds are being specifically targeted, with high-density cultivation planned for almonds, walnuts, and pine nuts. Indian cashew and cocoa are set to be developed into global brands by 2030, while coconut farmers will receive assistance for plantation and replantation.
Sparsh Sachar, Director and Business Head, FMCG, Nutrica: Union Budget 2026 takes a meaningful step towards addressing India’s long-standing dependence on imported edible oils by shifting the focus to domestic oilseed productivity and resilience. The emphasis on high-value crops, climate-resilient agriculture and improved agri-credit can help farmers invest more confidently in better inputs and practices for oilseed cultivation.
The integration of AI through initiatives like Bharat-VISTAAR also has the potential to improve crop planning, yield predictability and risk management for oilseed farmers. Over time, these measures can support a more stable domestic oil ecosystem, benefiting farmers, agri-businesses and consumers by reducing volatility and import vulnerability.
Debarshi Dutta, Co-Founder & CEO, Ayekart: This Budget sets a clear, outcome-oriented direction for Bharat by aligning technology, capital, and market access to strengthen farmers and MSMEs at scale. The launch of Bharat VISTAAR, integrating AgriStack with AI-enabled advisory, has the potential to support better farm-level decision-making, reduce risk, and improve productivity across diverse agro-ecologies.
The announcement of the ₹10,000 crore MSME Growth Fund sends a strong signal of intent to back India’s entrepreneurial backbone and create equity pathways for high-potential micro and small enterprises. Alongside measures to improve liquidity and access to formal finance, this can significantly enhance supply-chain capacity and accelerate value addition.
The renewed focus on high-value crops such as coconut, cocoa, cashew, sandalwood, and horticulture opens up meaningful opportunities to diversify cropping patterns and strengthen farm incomes. When combined with aggregation, post-harvest support, and better price discovery, these measures can translate into measurable gains in rural livelihoods.
We welcome the Budget’s clarity of intent and look forward to partnering with industry, financial institutions, and government to convert policy direction into measurable outcomes for farmers, FPOs and small enterprises across the country.
Mr. Sunil Kataria, MD & CEO, Godrej Agrovet Ltd: Placing a strong emphasis on productivity, resilience and inclusive growth, the proposals tabled in today’s Union Budget once again reinforce agriculture as a key pillar in India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat. The targeted attention on livestock, fisheries and allied sectors showcases a clear shift towards diversified and income-resilient farm systems. In this context, the new loan linked capital support for veterinary education, hospitals, diagnostics and breeding infrastructure will expand capacity and high quality services across rural India. Additionally, future science-led interventions in the areas of cattle genetics and breeding would help accelerate livestock productivity and farm incomes. It is also encouraging to see the Government’s focus on leveraging technology-driven agriculture through the introduction of multilingual AI platform. Amidst evolving climate and market conditions, delivering customized and risk-aware advisory at a scale is need of an hour to empower farmers to make informed decisions and adapt better. We also appreciate the extension of tax deduction to primary co-operatives supplying cattle feed and cotton seed to federal co operatives and government organisations, which will strengthen formal input supply chains and improve farmer realization. Together, through a calibrated approach by integrates productivity, innovation, inclusion, and institutional support, this year’s Budget once again lays a strong foundation for a future ready agricultural ecosystem and reinforces agriculture’s role as a long term contributor to India’s economic growth.
