February 2026

In short: India's schemes, budget and infrastructure this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.

Current Affairs — India › Economy & Infrastructure · 24 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu

Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.

The Union Budget 2026-27 in full — three Kartavyas, headline fiscal numbers, and 25+ new schemes — plus India's new GDP series, the US-India Interim Trade Agreement, National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0, and a wide sweep of banking, MSME and digital-economy developments.

A handloom weaver at work on a traditional loom in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh — A handloom weaver in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh — representing the Budget's Textile Sector package (National Fibre Scheme, Samarth 2.0, Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj for khadi/handloom) · Eskay001 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

February 2026 — At a Glance

February 2026 was dominated by the Union Budget 2026-27 — the first prepared in the new Kartavya Bhawan, structured around three "Kartavyas" (growth, people's capacity, Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas). Alongside it, the Ministry of Statistics released a new GDP series with 2022-23 as the base year, India and the US agreed a framework for an Interim Trade Agreement, and the Cabinet cleared National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0 worth ₹16.72 lakh crore. A wide sweep of smaller reforms touched MSME credit, startups, agriculture data, and banking regulation.

1. Union Budget 2026-27 — Structure & Headline Numbers

Structure — The Finance Minister presented the Budget in two parts — Part A (expenditure priorities/new schemes) and Part B (tax proposals).
First-of-its-kind — The first Budget prepared in the newly built Kartavya Bhawan.
Three Kartavyas — Structured around three "Kartavyas" (duties): sustaining economic growth, building people's capacity, and Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas.

Budget 2026-27 — the fiscal headline numbers
Metric	Figure
Total expenditure (BE 2026-27)	₹53.5 lakh crore
Non-debt receipts	₹36.5 lakh crore
Net tax receipts	₹28.7 lakh crore
Gross / net market borrowings	₹17.2 lakh crore / ₹11.7 lakh crore
Fiscal deficit (BE 2026-27)	4.3% of GDP
Debt-to-GDP ratio	55.6% (BE 2026-27), down from 56.1% (RE 2025-26); target 50% ±1% by FY31
Public capital expenditure	₹12.2 lakh crore
Rupee comes from (top 2)	Borrowings/liabilities 24%; Income Tax 21%
Rupee goes to (top 2)	States' share of taxes 22%; Interest payment 20%

2. Budget: First Kartavya — Manufacturing, MSMEs & Infrastructure

Scope — The First Kartavya (accelerate and sustain growth) targets 6 areas: scaling manufacturing in 7 strategic sectors, reviving legacy industrial clusters, championing MSMEs, a powerful infrastructure push, long-term energy security, and City Economic Regions.

First Kartavya — key new schemes
Scheme / Initiative	Key fact
Biopharma SHAKTI	Global biopharma manufacturing hub for biologics/biosimilars
India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0	Full-stack Indian chip design/IP, fortified supply chains
Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme	Outlay increased ₹22,919cr → ₹40,000cr
Dedicated Rare Earth Corridors	For rare-earth permanent magnets in Odisha, Kerala, AP, Tamil Nadu
3 Chemical Parks	Cluster-based plug-and-play model to cut import dependency
Scheme for Container Manufacturing	₹10,000+ crore over 5 years, globally competitive container ecosystem
Textile Sector package	National Fibre Scheme, Samarth 2.0, Mega Textile Parks, Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj (MGSS) for khadi/handloom
Revival of 200 legacy industrial clusters	Infrastructure/technology upgradation for cost competitiveness
SME Growth Fund	₹10,000 crore equity support; TReDS made settlement platform for CPSE-MSME purchases
Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund	Partial credit guarantees to lenders during construction phase
20 new National Waterways	Starting with NW-5, Odisha; Dankuni-Surat Dedicated Freight Corridor
7 High-Speed Rail corridors	Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi, Varanasi-Siliguri
CCUS technologies (energy security)	₹20,000 crore/5 years — carbon capture, utilisation & storage across 5 industrial sectors
City Economic Regions (CER)	₹5,000 crore/CER/5 years, focused on Tier-II/III cities & temple-towns
Financial market reforms	High Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat; PROI investment limit ↑5%→10% (individual), 24% overall

3. Budget: People's Capacity & Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas

Second Kartavya — education, health, tourism & sports
Scheme / Initiative	Key fact
Khelo India Mission	Talent pathway, coaches, sports science, competitions — for the next decade
5 Regional Medical Hubs	Medical-tourism-focused integrated healthcare complexes; 100,000 Allied Health Professionals to be added
3 new All India Institutes of Ayurveda	WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre, Jamnagar, to be upgraded
NIMHANS-2	Second national mental-health institute for north India; Ranchi & Tezpur upgraded to Regional Apex Institutions
Emergency & Trauma Care Centres	In every district hospital nationwide
Orange Economy (AVGC)	IICT Mumbai to set up AVGC labs in 15,000 schools/500 colleges; 2mn jobs targeted by 2030
National Institute of Design	New institute for eastern India; 5 University Townships near industrial corridors; 1 girls' hostel/district
4 Telescope Infrastructure facilities	National Large Solar/Optical-Infrared Telescopes, Himalayan Chandra Telescope, COSMOS 2 Planetarium
Heritage tourism	15 archaeological sites incl. Lothal, Dholavira, Rakhigarhi, Sarnath, Leh Palace, developed as cultural destinations

Third Kartavya — farmers, Divyangjan, mental health & Purvodaya
Scheme / Initiative	Key fact
Amrit Sarovars	500 new reservoirs; 68,827 built so far (1,222 fishery-linked); Fish FPOs strengthened
High Value Agriculture	Coconut, sandalwood, cocoa, cashew, walnut/almond/pine-nut orchard rejuvenation programmes
Bharat-VISTAAR	Multilingual AI tool integrating AgriStack + ICAR advisory for farmers
SHE-Mart	Community-owned retail outlets in every district for SHG/rural women's products
Divyangjan Kaushal & Sahara Yojana	Industry-relevant skilling + ALIMCO scale-up, PM Divyasha Kendras, Assistive Tech Marts
East Coast Industrial Corridor	Durgapur node; 5 tourism destinations in 5 Purvodaya states; 4,000 e-buses
Buddhist Circuits Scheme	Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura — temples/monasteries, pilgrim amenities

4. Budget: Tax Reforms (Part B)

Direct taxes — ease of living & compliance

New Income Tax Act — Income Tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act — simplified rules/forms — effective 1 April 2026.
TCS relief — TCS on overseas tour packages cut 5-20% → 2% (no threshold); TCS for education/medical under LRS cut 5% → 2%.
Filing ease — Return-revision window extended 31 Dec → 31 Mar; staggered ITR filing timelines; TAN for NRI property deals replaced by PAN-based challan.
STT hike — Securities Transaction Tax on Futures raised 0.02% → 0.05%; options premium 0.1% → 0.15%; options exercise 0.125% → 0.15%.
Buyback tax — Buyback taxed as Capital Gains for all shareholders + additional buyback tax — effective 22% corporate / 30% non-corporate.
IT services & global business — IT services safe-harbour margin 15.5%, threshold raised ₹300cr → ₹2,000cr; foreign-company data-centre tax holiday till 2047.

Indirect taxes — customs & manufacturing

Nuclear & critical minerals — BCD exemption on Nuclear Power Project imports extended to 2035; capital goods for critical-mineral processing fully exempted.
Ease of living — Personal-use dutiable goods tariff cut 20% → 10%; 17 more drugs + 7 more rare-disease treatments exempted from BCD.
New export opportunities — Fish catch in EEZ/high seas made duty-free on export; courier-export value cap of ₹10 lakh/consignment removed entirely.
Customs modernisation — Customs Integrated System (CIS) to roll out in 2 years as a single scalable platform; non-intrusive scanning expanded to all major ports.

5. Growth, Trade & Economic Data

India's New GDP Series — Base Year 2022-23

What — MoSPI released a new National Accounts Statistics series with 2022-23 as base year (replacing 2011-12) — reflecting digital economy growth, GST-driven formalisation, and services-sector expansion.
Method upgrade — Shifts from single deflation to double deflation (separate inflation adjustment for inputs and outputs) — reduces distortion in real GDP growth estimates.
Impact — FY26 real GDP growth revised up to 7.6% (from 7.4%); nominal GDP for FY26 revised down ~3.3% to ₹345.47 lakh crore — making fiscal ratios (deficit/debt-to-GDP) look higher and the $4-trillion economy goal harder to reach on paper.
Release — New series released 27 February 2026; India plans to shift to the newer SNA 2025 global standard at the next base-year revision.

US-India Interim Trade Agreement Framework

What — India and the US agreed on a framework for an Interim Trade Agreement — early gains while negotiating a full Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) (launched Feb 2025).
India commits — Eliminate/reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods + select farm products (dried distillers' grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, soybean oil, wine & spirits); a $500-billion, 5-year import plan (energy, aircraft, tech, coking coal).
US commits — Roll back tariffs on generic pharmaceuticals and gems & jewellery; preferential quotas for Indian auto parts — though an 18% reciprocal tariff continues on many other Indian goods.
Factsheet dilution — The US later revised its factsheet: "committed to" $500bn purchases softened to "intends to"; the digital-services-tax section was removed entirely.

SANKALP Scheme — PAC Flags Poor Implementation

What — SANKALP (Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion) — a ₹4,455 crore World Bank-assisted Centrally Sponsored Scheme (2018, MSDE) for short-term skill training.
PAC criticism — Only 44% of the budgeted allocation (2017-18 to 2023-24) was disbursed; of ₹1,606.15 crore released by the World Bank, only ₹850.71 crore was utilised (as of Dec 2023).

6. Financial Sector, MSMEs & the Digital Economy

National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0

What — A ₹16.72 lakh crore pipeline of public-asset monetisation — 2.6× the size of NMP 1.0 — to fund fresh infrastructure without adding to fiscal deficit.

Collateral-Free MSME Loans Doubled

What — RBI doubled the collateral-free loan limit for MSMEs from ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh, easing access to working capital for small enterprises.

Startup Recognition Framework Revised

Changes — Turnover cap for recognition raised ₹100cr → ₹200cr; a new Deep Tech Startup category added; age limit for recognition extended 10 → 20 years (turnover ceiling ₹300cr); cooperatives now eligible.

Agristack & Bharat-VISTAAR

What — Agristack — the Farmer Registry, Crop Sown Registry and Geo-referenced Village Maps — forms India's core digital agriculture infrastructure; Bharat-VISTAAR is the new multilingual AI layer integrating it with ICAR advisory.

Sunrise Sectors — SBI CHAKRA Centre of Excellence

What — SBI launched CHAKRA, a Centre of Excellence for financing 8 sunrise sectors — targeting ₹100 lakh crore in sector value by 2030.

Coking Coal Declared a Critical Mineral

What — Coking coal notified as a Critical Mineral under the MMDR Act — India holds 37.37 billion tonnes of reserves, key for domestic steel-making self-reliance.

Other economy & digital developments — quick facts
Development	Key fact
RBI Digital Fraud Compensation Framework	RBI weighs a scheme to compensate victims of digital-payment fraud
US SC Curbs Trump's Tariff Powers	Ruling limits use of the emergency-powers law (IEEPA) for sweeping reciprocal tariffs — relevant to India's own trade talks
PM RAHAT Scheme	Cashless road-accident treatment up to ₹1.5 lakh/victim for 7 days; funded via Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF), linked to 112 ERSS
AI-Powered Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE)	AI applications for decentralised solar/renewable grid management showcased at the AI Impact Summit
Grain ATMs	"Annapurti" pilot in Bihar — automated ration dispensing machines, tech support from WFP/FCI
VOPPA Order, 2025	Regulates the edible-oil sector for quality/pricing transparency
Yantra India Limited — Miniratna status	7th of 7 new Defence PSUs (from 2021 OFB corporatisation) to get Miniratna status
Bee Corridors	NHAI-backed pollinator corridors along highways to support agriculture
AI-Preneurs of India	Atal Innovation Mission book profiling 45 AI startups
CBDC-Based Digital Food Currency	Gujarat pilot (Ahmedabad, Anand, Valsad, Surat) for targeted food-subsidy delivery
Network Readiness Index 2025	India ranks 45th (up 4 places); Portulans Institute; US 1st, Finland 2nd, Singapore 3rd
MoU between FCI and WFP	2 lakh MT rice at ₹2,800/quintal, valid till 2031, for global food-aid programmes
Project Vault	US critical-minerals reserve — 10bn EXIM Bank + 2bn private funding
Access Pass for Fishing in EEZs	13 coastal States/UTs; ReALCRaft portal for registration/authorisation
SUJVIKA Portal	AI-driven biotech data portal under the Ministry of Science & Technology
Rail Tech Policy & eRCT	Railways adopts an iDEX-style innovation model; 23 Railway Coach Testing (RCT) benches under eRCT
New CPI 2024 Series	Base year 2012→2024, basket expanded 299→358 items; Jan retail inflation 2.75%; COICOP 2018 framework
First State Innovation Mission	Tripura, under AIM 2.0, anchored by T-NEST incubator
Revised Lead Bank Scheme guidelines	RBI updates the 1969 scheme (Gadgil Study Group) for district-level credit planning
RBI-ESMA MoU	Recognises India's CCIL under EU securities-market rules, easing cross-border clearing
Challenges in ACC-PLI scheme	Advanced Chemistry Cell battery scheme (2021, ₹18,100cr, Min. of Heavy Industries) faces slow uptake