Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman started presenting the Union Budget 2026 with the announcement of three “Kartavya” to enable India to walk towards Viksit Bharat.
The three kartavyas are: Accelerating and sustaining economic growth, rejuvenating the legacy industrial sector, and creating champion MSMEs.
To boost MSMEs, the FM proposed a Rs. 10,000 crore SME fund to enable them to become the vital engine of growth. She said that this is aimed at transforming these businesses into ‘Champion MSMEs’.
She added, “I propose to introduce a dedicated 10,000 crores. SME group fund to create future champions, incentivising enterprises, based on select criteria, with 2000 crores to continue support to micro enterprises and maintain their access to risk capital, liquidity support with trades.”
This comes against the backdrop of MoS for MSMEs Shobha Karandlaje’s statements about the closure of 24,000 MSMEs between July 2020 and November 2025.
