In Focus by The Hindu What would India's markets and small businesses expect from Union Budget 2026?
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Jan 30, 2026 Lalatendu Mishra, a Mumbai-based markets and RBI analyst, and Soundariya Preetha, a Coimbatore-based MSME reporter, discuss pre-Budget expectations. They cover the Economic Survey's tone versus MSME realities. They examine cluster-level fixes, FTAs and textiles, import barriers like QCOs, FII outflows, RBI tools and calls for growth-focused tax moves.
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Mission-Mode For Competitive MSME Clusters
- The Economic Survey calls for a mission-mode, cluster-focused approach to make MSME clusters globally competitive.
- Soundariya Preetha says short-term reactive measures won't work and clusters need handholding and scaling support.
Target Cluster Interventions, Not Blanket Funding
- Address cluster-specific gaps: finance, scaling, market access and feasibility studies before funding technology upgrades.
- Design interventions that combine finance, market linkages and capacity building for each cluster.
Structural Barriers In MSME Clusters
- MSME clusters face structural issues: limited access to organized finance, scaling challenges, and weak market linkages.
- Preetha stresses tailored cluster-level solutions rather than one-size-fits-all grants or tech centers.