Union Budget 2026 | Big push for electronics, rare earth corridors, semiconductors

The Union Budget for the year 2026-27 concluded on February 1, as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid out the Centre's plans to fulfill the vision of a self-reliant India.

As the government highlighted sustaining economic growth, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Budget has proposed to increase the outlay to Rs 40,000 crore for the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme, the previous outlay amount being outlay of Rs 22,919 crore during its launch in April 2025.

The session also proposed establishing 'rare earth corridors' in mineral-rich states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Kerala in the budget session.

She mentioned that the initiative will boost mining and research among other aspects. "A scheme for rare earth permanent magnets was launched in 2025 November. We now propose to support mineral-rich states such as Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to establish rare earth corridors to promote mining, processing, research and manufacturing," she said.

The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics sector is an industry that the session called a 'growing sector' acknowledging the need for 2 million professionals by 2023 to aid its development. The Centre will set up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai.

Many experts called it a "timely measure," as a first-time allocation of Rs 250 crore has been made in the Demands for Grants for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for talent development in AVGC sector to promote content creation amongst the youth.

Alongside the two boosts, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 1.0 is to see a second variant, ISM 2.0 to produce equipment and materials, design full stack India IP and solidify supply chains, a milestone for the technology sector.

The Finance Minister also elaborated on the need to "focus on industry-led research and training centres to develop technology and a skilled workforce."