New Delhi, Feb. 3 -- Markets don't always get it right, especially not immediately. India's 2026-27 budget sparked an initial selloff, with investors obsessing over the government's elevated headline borrowing. Indices recovered soon after, aided by positive news on a trade deal with the US.

What marks the budget out is its fiscal discipline and strategic ambition. It reveals a government betting on India's long-term trajectory. After years of successful fiscal consolidation, India is channelling resources towards an essential capacity build-up: infrastructure that works, human capital that competes globally and institutions that enable growth.

Following the 2025-26 pattern, operational spending-administrative costs, central government ...