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Informist, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026

MUMBAI - Biren Vakil, founder and chief executive officer, Paradigm Commodity Advisors Pvt. Ltd., said the following on the Union Budget for 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday:

The agricultural sector has been more or less ignored and there have been no changes to the customs duty or to the Budget allocation for agricultural commodities. However, there will be some relief for the co-operative sector as the government has proposed to extend the deduction of profit and gains to primary co-operatives engaged in supply of cattle feed and cottonseed to, inter alia, a federal co-operative or government organisations. At present, such deductions are allowed to a primary co-operative society engaged in supplying milk, oilseeds, fruits, or vegetables raised or grown by its members to a federal co-operative society and others engaged in the same activities.

Further, the government has proposed to build mega textile parks, which might give some boost to the cotton sector as demand might increase. It can be considerd an indirect push to the cotton sector, although setting up of textile parks would increase demand not only for cotton but also for other fibres such as nylon. 

The National Fibre Scheme for self-reliance in natural fibres such as silk, wool, and jute, man-made fibres, and new-age fibres, Textile Expansion and Employment Scheme to modernise traditional clusters with capital support for machinery, technology upgradation and common testing and certification centres, a National Handloom and Handicraft programme to integrate and strengthen existing schemes and ensure targeted support for weavers and artisans are also some of the indirect support to the agricultural sector. 

The government has not changed the duty stuctures on agricultural commodities as it is cautious ahead of elections in several states. They did not want to take the risk of rising inflation. In general, the market is not happy with the Budget.  End

As told to Taniva Singha Roy
Filed by Rajeev Pai

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