PM Urges India Inc To Invest, Take Advantage Of Budget

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged the Indian industry to step up investment and innovation. Addressing the first post-Budget webinar on ‘Technology, Reforms and Finance for Viksit Bharat’, Modi said the government had laid the groundwork through aggressive capital spending and by creating a conducive policy environment in successive Budgets and that it was time for the private sector to drive the next phase of globally competitive growth.

The Prime Minister said public capital expenditure had risen from Rs 2-lakh crores 11 years ago to over Rs 12-lakh crores in the Union Budget 2026-27, laying a strong foundation for expansion. The higher allocation, he said, signalled the private sector to invest with renewed vigour and leverage the Budget announcements.

"India Inc should come forward with fresh investment and innovation. Financial institutions and analysts should help design practical solutions and improve market confidence," Modi said, calling for closer collaboration between government, industry and knowledge partners to ensure reforms translate into tangible outcomes.

"We need greater participation in infrastructure and innovation in financial models... We must strengthen project sanction methodologies and improve the quality of appraisal," Modi said.

Over the past decade, the government has anchored India's growth strategy around record capital expenditure, sharply scaling up spending on highways, railways, ports, airports, digital infrastructure and energy networks to crowd in private investment and lift medium-term productivity. However, the private sector is yet to unleash the so-called animal spirit.

The Prime Minister said India's resilience over the past decade was driven by conviction-led reforms and sustained efforts to improve ease of doing business. "India has undertaken technology-led governance, strengthened institutions and even today the country is on the path of reforms..." he said.

"To sustain the ‘Reform Express’ momentum, we not only need to focus on policy intent but also have to focus on delivery excellence. The evaluation of reforms should be on the basis of their impact on the ground. We should extensively use AI, blockchain and data analytics to improve transparency, speed and accountability," Modi said.

The Prime Minister proposed the creation of a "Reform Partnership Charter" to formalise collaboration among government, industry, financial institutions and academia as part of the goal of achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047. He said when government, industry and knowledge partners come together, "reforms translate into results", and "announcements on paper turn into achievements on the ground".

Listing out investor-friendly policies announced by the government, the Prime Minister said that the foreign investment framework has been simplified, and greater predictability has been brought in. "Besides, measures have been taken for the deepening of the bond market," he said, adding that new instruments with less risk should be developed to attract sustained foreign investment.

Observing that the Budget is often evaluated on different parameters, Modi said, "The national Budget is not a short-term trading document. It is a policy roadmap. Therefore, the effectiveness of the Budget should also be assessed on solid and substantive parameters."

"Every year, the Budget webinar held after the Budget is important. My desire is that the webinar should not remain limited to a formal exchange of views but focus on meaningful brainstorming," Modi added.