Union Budget a roadmap to ‘Viksit Bharat’, says IIM Kozhikode director Debashis Chatterjee

The Union Budget 2026 should be read not merely as a fiscal statement, but as a forward-looking roadmap to ‘Viksit Bharat’, Debashis Chatterjee, director, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode, has said.

Mr. Chatterjee said the Budget placed human capital at the centre of India’s growth story, with a clear emphasis on skill, scale, and sustainability—especially critical at a time when technology and AI were reshaping work and productivity. “The focus on youth, skilling partnerships with premier institutions like the IIMs, infrastructure-led entrepreneurship, support for MSMEs, women-led enterprises, and sunrise sectors reflects a mature, human-centric economic vision. By strengthening capabilities across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and investing in creativity, innovation, and institutional capacity, the Budget takes a decisive step towards building a resilient, self-reliant, and globally competitive India,” he added.