Budget 2026 Signals Export-Led Push as India Moves Deeper into Global Supply Chains

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth Union Budget lays out a clear intent to integrate India more firmly into global supply chains, with exports projected as the fourth growth engine of the economy. Building on last year’s reforms, which reduced basic customs duty slabs to eight by merging multiple rates, the government has continued its effort to simplify the tariff structure. Earlier, several products attracted multiple levies such as cess, the social welfare surcharge (SWS) and the agriculture infrastructure and development cess (AIDC). In the current Budget, each item carries only one cess or surcharge, with the social welfare surcharge removed from 82 tariff lines. The Budget also provides zero import duty on a wide range of critical inputs, including key minerals such as lithium, cobalt, lead and zinc, particularly for electric vehicle and mobile battery manufacturing. Duty-free imports have been extended to shipbuilding inputs, textile machinery, electronic components, PCBA input parts, camera modules,