Union Budget 2026 maintained continuity, attempted structural transformation: SBI Chairman CS Setty

Union Budget 2026: State Bank of India (SBI) chairman CS Setty said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth budget attempted careful structural transformation while also maintaining continuity. He also said that the Budget has many positives for the banking sector. 

“The Union Budget 2026-27 maintains policy continuity, tax predictability while attempting a fine balance between rural & urban, legacy & sunrise sectors,” said CS Setty, adding that this budget contained both predictable and futuristic elements. “The predictable part is the basic structure which remains focused on emerging and employment generating sectors. Infrastructure sector continues to be an anchor, with an increase in proposed investments. The thrust on sunrise sectors which form the futurist part has announcements on semiconductors, data centres, carbon capture utilisation and storage, critical minerals etc,” she said.

While the taxation part remained predictable and conservative, there were notable shifts on the rural and agriculture side, he said. Emphasis on services like tourism, orange economy and education are timely and complimentary to both proposed infrastructure expansion, connectivity and digital capex led future growth, said Setty. 

“This year’s Budget while maintaining continuity has attempted a careful structural transformation. The people centric initiatives, ease of doing business and living measures which form the softer aspects of the tough decisions identifies the challenges that country faces. There are many positives and opportunities for the banking sector. Reinventing banking in a rapidly changing context and keeping financial markets orderly and stable thereby aligning with India’s next phase of growth continues to be imperative for the sector. The Budget for 2026-27, is thus a significant step toward making India a global hub for innovation and advanced manufacturing with global competitiveness as the lynchpin,” he said.

SBI Deputy Managing Director (Finance), Anindya Sunder Paul said that the Union Budget 2026 “reaffirms the commitment to reinforce the structural drivers of equitable and accelerated growth”. “The key features of the budget include constant focus on all round economic development, fiscal discipline, infrastructure creation and proactively meeting aspirations of citizen with a robust and resilient financial sector at its heart as its hallmarks while putting emphasis on deregulation and removing unnecessary compliance burdens,” said Paul.