Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday praised the Union Budget 2026, describing it as a “mature budget” and saying the allocation of Rs 20,000 crore for carbon capture projects would benefit oil refineries, ANI reported.
Speaking to ANI, Puri said the Budget was presented at a time of global uncertainty, while India remained stable. He noted that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had presented her ninth consecutive Budget and that it was the 13th Budget under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. He said India’s economy had grown significantly, moving from the 10th to the fourth largest in the world, with gross domestic product rising from $2 trillion to $4.3 trillion.
Puri said capital expenditure had increased sharply over the years, rising from Rs 2 lakh crore in 2014 to Rs 11 lakh crore last year and further to Rs 12.2 lakh crore in the current Budget. He said the Rs 20,000 crore allocation for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage would support the energy sector and help refineries.
He also said the Budget included positive steps for the biofuel sector, adding that the blending of biogas in compressed biogas would be kept outside the accessible value. Puri said the proposed 20-year tax holiday aligned with the vision of a developed India and reflected a forward-looking approach. He added that the Budget was not populist in nature and gave strong importance to critical minerals and rare earth resources.
While presenting the Union Budget 2026–27, Finance Minister Sitharaman proposed an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years to scale up carbon capture technologies and improve their readiness for use in various sectors.
She also announced a Coconut Promotion Scheme aimed at increasing production and improving productivity in major coconut-growing states. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the scheme would include measures such as replacing unproductive trees with high-yielding saplings to strengthen India’s position in coconut cultivation.
India is among the world’s leading coconut producers, accounting for about 31 per cent of global output. More than 90 per cent of coconut farming takes place in southern states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, supporting the livelihoods of around 30 million people, including nearly 10 million farmers.
Sitharaman also proposed a dedicated programme for cashew and cocoa to make India self-reliant in raw material production and processing, while improving export competitiveness.
To boost investment in data centres, the Finance Minister proposed a tax holiday until 2047 for foreign companies providing global cloud services using data centres based in India, subject to the condition that services to Indian customers are offered through an Indian reseller. She also proposed a fixed profit margin for related entities providing such services.
In addition, Sitharaman announced measures to support electronic manufacturing by offering tax certainty for component warehousing in bonded warehouses and proposed income tax exemptions for non-residents supplying capital goods and equipment to manufacturers in bonded zones.
The Budget also included a set of indirect tax measures aimed at simplifying tariffs, supporting domestic manufacturing, promoting exports and addressing duty-related issues.
Sitharaman presented her ninth consecutive Union Budget in Parliament on Sunday.
