India, Feb. 1 -- In the hallowed halls of Parliament today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a Union Budget that signaled a decisive pivot. For the ICT and business sectors, the message was clear: India is no longer content being the world's "back office." With a massive Rs 12.2 lakh crore capital expenditure target and the launch of India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0, the 2026-27 Budget is a blueprint for transforming India into a global "Intelligence Hub."

The budget treats Artificial Intelligence not as a prestige project, but as a critical economic engine. The IndiaAI Mission has evolved from foundational setup to aggressive scaling. To democratize AI, the government announced a subsidy-linked marketplace for GPU acce...