FM Nirmala Sitharaman holds pre-Budget meet with energy, infra leaders

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday chaired her tenth pre-budget consultation, engaging key leaders from the energy and infrastructure sectors ahead of Union Budget 2026-27

Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday chaired the tenth round of pre-budget consultations, meeting with representatives of the energy and infrastructure sectors in New Delhi. 

The meeting was attended by Pankaj Agarwal, secretary, Ministry of Power; Vijay Kumar, secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways; V Umashankar, secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways; Satish Kumar, chairman of the Railway Board, and V Anantha Nageswaran, chief economic advisor to the government, said the Finance Ministry on X. 

Industry leaders who attended the meeting included Karan Adani, managing director (MD), Adani Ports & SEZs; N Venu, MD & chief executive officer (CEO), India & South Asia, Hitachi Energy; Vineet Mittal, chairman, Avaada Group; Deepak Shetty, Managing Director and CEO, JCB India; Sandeep Zanzaria, MD, GE Vernova T&D India; S Paramasivan, MD, Afcons, Manish Tripathi, director, Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital, and K Narayanarao, deputy MD, GMR Group. 

Other key industry leaders present at the meeting were Sandeep Wadhwa, group director, J M Baxi; S Ramkumar, CEO - railways, L&T; Mangal Dev, head of railway systems business, Hitachi; Pradip Kheruka, chairman, Borosil Renewables; Dinesh patidar, CMD, Shakti Pumps; Masood Mallick, MD & CEO, RE Sustainability; Shekhar Patel, president, CREDAI; T R Rao, director, infrastructure, PNC Infratech; D Krishnan, MD, Volvo Construction Equipment; Jagan Shah, CEO, Infravision Foundation, and S Pulipaka, CEO, National Solar Energy Federation. 

The infrastructure industry has been demanding measures to boost localisation in production. Companies say indigenisation is crucial in areas like photovoltaic cells in energy, or construction equipment. 

Industry executives also spoke about the current gaps that exist in measures to promote indigenisation in equipment manufacturing and how policy support can address these gaps ensure that India’s infrastructure ambitions are complemented with a strong supply chain. 

The industry has also been demanding bundling of projects for a unified planning system and synergy between sectors that act as complementary systems, especially in areas like connectivity and transport. 

Sitharaman had on Thursday held a similar consultation with trade unions, labour organisations, and the tourism and hospitality sector. 

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently submitted its recommendations for the Union Budget 2026-27 in a meeting with Revenue Secretary Arvind Srivastava. 

 

It requested making the tax mechanism “dispute-preventive” and not “dispute-driven”. CII proposed the creation of an India Development and Strategic Fund, a sovereign-backed and professionally managed institution to finance India’s long-term growth, resilience, and global economic security.