The strategic architecture is multifaceted. The tax holiday until 2047 for cloud services isn't merely a fiscal incentive - it's a masterstroke in data sovereignty that transforms India into a global cloud hub. By ensuring Indian data stays in India while attracting an estimated $50 billion in data center investments by 2030, the government has created irresistible economics for what could position us as the cloud services provider for emerging markets.
The MSME reforms demonstrate equally sophisticated thinking. The ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, combined with the TReDs platform mandate for all Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE’s) purchases from MSMEs, and expanded safe harbor thresholds - are carefully designed force multipliers. They create opportunities for India's 63 million MSMEs to scale to champions capable of competing globally.
The establishment of the High-Powered Committee on Education to Employment and Enterprise, with its mandate to capture 10 per cent of global services trade by 2047, ties everything together. This target is ambitious but achievable given our advantages: 65 per cent of our population under 35, digital infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar that's the envy of the world.
The AI integration is refreshingly pragmatic. Bharat-VISTAAR's multilingual AI platform for agriculture, integrated with AgriStack and ICAR practices, demonstrates AI solving real problems for real people at population scale. The commitment to embedding AI in school curricula from primary grades, upgrading State Councils of Educational Research and Training, and establishing five university townships near industry hubs shows generational thinking—ensuring our demographic dividend becomes an intelligent dividend. We have an opportunity to build on proprietary innovation, if services powered by intelligence are to drive Viksit Bharat. We have the talent, the market diversity, and the ambition.
The Budget's focus on AI integration is laudable, but integration without invention means we miss the opportunity to develop our own. We do have an opportunity to drive transformative R&D investment incentives. The Budget reinforces existing missions like India AI Mission and National Quantum Mission but a lot more is needed to truly accelerate innovation. India's gross domestic expenditure on R&D remains below 0.7 per cent of GDP. Without encouraging R&D incentives we risk becoming sophisticated consumers of AI rather than creators.
The Budget goes beyond mere infrastructure funding; it's a blueprint for an entire ecosystem where AI, cloud sovereignty, and digital platforms serve as the operational backbone for national progress. The government has established enabling conditions, ranging from cloud incentives and MSME funds to nurturing talent pipelines and compliance reforms. The opportunity is undeniable, and I am confident in our capability to architect solutions that match the magnitude of India's aspirations.
At Salesforce, we fully recognize both the challenges and the opportunities. We believe this future is realized when technology serves as a foundation for societal uplift, when AI enhances the productivity of every farmer, and when cloud platforms democratize capital access for millions of MSMEs.
The writer is CEO & President, Salesforce - South Asia
 "Budget 2026")