CII Calls For 4-pillar Strategy For Macro-economic Stability

New Delhi: Ahead of the Budget for 2026, leading industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Thursday called for a four-pillar strategy for macro-economic stability with debt sustainability, fiscal transparency, revenue mobilisation, and expenditure efficiency at its core. Besides, the industry chamber also urged the Centre to push institutional reforms and fiscal consolidation in the forthcoming budget to maintain India’s growth momentum.

As per the CII, India stands at a pivotal juncture in its growth journey. “With real GDP expanding by a healthy 8.0 per cent in the first half of FY26 and inflation remaining well anchored, the economy is displaying what the RBI has aptly termed a “Goldilocks” scenario of strong growth coexisting with price stability. This favourable alignment reflects the government’s proactive fiscal stance and prudent macroeconomic management,” the CII said in a statement.

These suggestions formed part of the strategy outlined by the chamber for strengthening India’s macroeconomic stability, based on key pillars including debt sustainability, fiscal transparency, revenue mobilisation and expenditure efficiency. “India has achieved a rare convergence of high growth, low inflation, and improving fiscal indicators. The next Union Budget must continue this momentum through disciplined fiscal management and deeper institutional reforms,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of CII.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the Union Budget for 2026-27 in the Lok Sabha in February. “The government needs to deploy advanced analytics tools to detect tax evasion, arguing the country needs to increase its tax-GDP ratio from 17.5 per cent (centre and states combined) currently. To finance the developmental needs of the country, India needs to increase its tax-GDP ratio. Leveraging the data from India’s world-class digital infrastructure could help detect tax evasion and expand the tax base,” added Banerjee.

To ensure debt sustainability, the industry lobby also stressed adherence to the government’s debt glide path targeting 50 ±1 per cent of GDP by FY31. “To improve predictability and reinforce institutional credibility, CII recommended reviving the medium-term fiscal framework with a rolling 3 to 5-year roadmap for revenue, expenditure, and debt,” the CII said.

The industry body also said that in order to unlock value from public assets, the government should announce a three-year privatisation pipeline of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) in the non-strategic sectors as announced in the strategic disinvestment policy.

“As an interim measure, undertaking calibrated disinvestment, gradually reducing government stake in PSEs to 51 per cent, retaining majority ownership, and eventually to 26-33 per cent over time and efforts at full privatisation should continue,” it suggested.