Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman offered her ninth consecutive Union Price range on Sunday, the primary time in unbiased India that the Price range was delivered on a Sunday.
Whereas the federal government reiterated its reform-driven development agenda with a pointy give attention to youth energy (Yuva Shakti), the Price range stood out for what it neglected: no main, broad-based bulletins for premier establishments similar to IITs and IIMs this 12 months.
Presenting the Price range, Sitharaman mentioned that over 350 reforms have been rolled out to spice up job creation and strengthen India’s development engine.
EDUCATION PUSH: WOMEN IN STEM AND YOUTH IN TECHNOLOGY
The Finance Minister introduced a number of initiatives geared toward remodeling the training ecosystem, together with a robust push to extend ladies’s participation in STEM disciplines, new programmes to encourage youth engagement with rising applied sciences, the institution of recent Ayurveda institutes, and the organising of content material creator labs in colleges to nurture digital and inventive abilities from an early age.
Collectively, these measures sign the federal government’s intent to modernise training whereas increasing studying alternatives past typical tutorial pathways.
NO NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR IITs AND IIMs THIS YEAR
In contrast to earlier years, the 2026 Price range didn’t embrace any main allocation or enlargement plan particularly for the Indian Institutes of Know-how (IITs) or Indian Institutes of Administration (IIMs) at a broader degree.
This marks a shift from final 12 months’s method, the place increased training establishments, significantly technical institutes, had been a key focus space.
Commenting on the Union Price range 2026, which didn’t place IITs and IIMs on the centre of this 12 months’s training bulletins, Dr Nishant Sapra, Assistant Professor at T A Pai Administration Institute, Manipal Academy of Larger Schooling, mentioned the absence of recent IIT or IIM proposals displays a deliberate coverage selection.
“No announcement on any new IIT-IIM creation signifies the strategic selection of the federal government. The necessity of the hour is to strengthen these nationwide establishments by way of higher analysis funding, trade collaboration, and coverage engagement, enabling them to contribute extra meaningfully to India’s long-term nationwide development story,” Dr Nishant Sapra mentioned.
“It additionally leaves some room for the enlargement of international universities, which have already began or will begin their operations very quickly in India,” he additional added.
Reacting to the upper training provisions within the Union Price range 2026, Professor Ram Kumar Kakani, Vice Chancellor of RV College, mentioned that the Price range didn’t announce any new IITs or IIMs and likewise lacked a significant capital expenditure or enlargement roadmap for current IITs and IIMs.
“In that sense, the Union Price range indicators continuity for increased training, with a transparent push in direction of analysis, digital infrastructure, medical training and AI-enabled studying. It gives new analysis alternatives by way of fellowships and AI-focused initiatives, improves campus infrastructure in medical schools, and locations higher emphasis on employability, innovation labs, the healthcare sector and trade partnerships,” mentioned Professor Ram Kumar Kakani.
EDUCATION BUDGET 2026 LIVE UPDATES
WHAT THE UNION BUDGET 2025 PROMISED FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
Within the Union Price range 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled an bold roadmap for training and skilling, with a robust emphasis on synthetic intelligence (AI) and capability enlargement in increased training.
Among the many key bulletins had been plans to broaden infrastructure at 5 Indian Institutes of Know-how (IITs) established after 2014, enabling them to accommodate 6,500 further college students, together with the enlargement of IIT Patna to strengthen its tutorial and analysis ecosystem.
The Price range additionally proposed the creation of 5 Nationwide Centres of Excellence for AI in Schooling, to be developed by way of international partnerships, supported by an allocation of Rs 500 crore for a devoted Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Intelligence for the training sector.
As well as, Sitharaman introduced the addition of 10,000 new medical seats as a part of ongoing efforts to broaden healthcare training capability. Reflecting the federal government’s prioritisation of training, the Ministry of Schooling obtained an allocation of over Rs 1.28 lakh crore within the Union Price range 2025-26, increased than the revised estimate of Rs 1.14 lakh crore in 2024-25.
STRATEGIC SHIFT IN EDUCATION SPENDING
Whereas the absence of contemporary bulletins for IITs and IIMs might disappoint some stakeholders, the Union Price range 2026 displays a strategic shift in direction of inclusive, future-ready training, with focused investments in youth abilities, ladies’s participation in STEM, medical training, and various studying pathways.
As India seems to be to harness its demographic dividend, the federal government seems targeted on breadth over elite enlargement, betting on reforms and innovation to drive long-term development.
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