As Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2026–27, both she and Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as a “Yuva Shakti-driven” exercise, shaped by ideas emerging from the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue.
The emphasis reflects a wider political effort to align economic policy with India’s demographic reality. The Budget signals a clear shift towards youth-oriented employment planning. While manufacturing and infrastructure remain priorities, the employment narrative increasingly focuses on services and creative sectors where young Indians are already present.
Sitharaman structured the budget around three “Kartavyas”, or responsibilities. Of these, the second, focused on fulfilling aspirations and building capacity, has the clearest implications for youth. It prioritises job creation in services, creative industries, tourism, sports and technology-linked sectors, where younger workers already form a large share of the workforce.
A central proposal under this approach is the setting up of a High-Powered Education to Employment and Enterprise Standing Committee. The committee is expected to address gaps between education and employment, with a focus on the services sector as a driver of growth, jobs and exports. It will also examine how emerging technologies affect job profiles and skill requirements. The stated target is to raise India’s share in global services exports to 10 per cent by 2047.
Higher education and skills infrastructure form a significant part of the youth-focused measures. The budget proposes the establishment of a new National Institute of Design in eastern India through a challenge-based route, citing a shortage of trained designers despite rapid growth in the design industry. It also proposes the creation of five university townships near major industrial and logistics corridors, bringing together universities, research institutions, skill centres and residential facilities.
To address constraints faced by women in technical education, the budget proposes one girls’ hostel in every district with STEM institutions, supported through viability gap funding or capital support.
In science education, four major telescope infrastructure facilities will be set up or upgraded to promote astrophysics and astronomy, including the National Large Solar Telescope, the National Large Optical Infrared Telescope, the Himalayan Chandra Telescope and the COSMOS-2 Planetarium.
Among sector-specific interventions, the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics sector receives substantial attention. The budget proposes setting up AVCG content creator labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges. The sector is projected to require around two million professionals by 2030, and the focus is on early skilling within the education system.
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Tourism and hospitality are treated as structured employment sectors. The budget proposes upgrading the National Council for Hotel Management into a National Institute of Hospitality and launching a pilot programme to train 10,000 tourist guides at select destinations. These sectors are labour-intensive and have high youth participation.
Sports is also repositioned as an employment sector through the proposed Khelo India Mission, which aims to build a pipeline covering training, coaching, sports science, competitions and infrastructure, expanding opportunities beyond athletes to support roles.
Targeted schemes for Divyangjan follow a similar employment-led approach. Training under the Divyangjan Kaushal Yojana is aligned with sectors such as IT, AVGC and hospitality, alongside expanded access to assistive technologies.
