In order to lay the foundation for the Union Budget 2026–2027, which will be unveiled on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with members of labor organizations and trade unions here. The gathering is a part of the ministry’s yearly stakeholder engagement process, where labor organizations voice their concerns on worker welfare, social security, wages, and job creation prior to the budget. According to officials, similar pre-budget talks have recently taken place with representatives of other industries, including banking, hospitality, IT, and entrepreneurs.
There have also been extensive talks on promoting growth and generating higher wages and jobs in the manufacturing, MSME, and agricultural sectors. Senior representatives from the Department of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the Chief Economic Advisor, and Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary also attended the meeting with labor unions. As part of Trump’s America First strategy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held pre-budget consultations with senior IT industry executives. The business is dealing with global uncertainty in the US, its largest market, as a result of visa limitations and a rise in the cost of H-1B visas.
The conversations also focused on increasing India’s computing capacity and expanding skilling programs in light of the significant transformation that the AI wave is bringing about in the IT industry. Industry leaders such as Preeti Lobana, Vice President and Country Manager at Google India; Rajesh Varrie, President-Operations, Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant India; and Sindhu Gangadharan, Managing Director of SAP Labs India and Chairperson of Nasscom, among others, attended the meeting.
