Pre-Budget Expectations: Experts from India’s Leading Stock Broking, Personal Finance, Startup Advisory and Legal Firms Share Insights
Arpit Jain, Joint MD, Arihant Capital Markets Ltd
The 2026-27 Budget needs to clearly pivot towards capex-led growth, which was relatively absent in the last Budget, which focused largely on consumption. The need of the hour is to encourage both government and private sector capex. We are already seeing early signs of this in the metal sector. Some tax relief measures for sovereign funds investing in India could also serve as a strong catalyst. Financials and pharma remain well placed, while metals may continue to perform but are running a bit ahead of fundamentals. The global environment, however, remains uncertain and needs to be closely monitored.
Devansh Lakahni, Director, Startup Fundraising Expert & Investment Banker, Lakhani Financial Services
One of our top expectations from Budget 2026 is a meaningful reform in ESOP taxation. Today, employees are taxed twice – first when they exercise their stock options (even if they haven’t made any money yet), and again when they sell them. For early-stage startup teams, this creates a significant cash flow burden, with tax bills often exceeding ₹2–5 lakh or more on notional gains. This structure severely undermines the core purpose of ESOPs – to reward and retain talent willing to take early-stage risk. Unless taxation is deferred until the point of sale, ESOPs will remain an ineffective and unfair tool for employee ownership in startups. Lastly, we strongly urge the government to align capital gains tax treatment for unlisted shares with that of listed ones. Startups are riskier, less liquid, and demand longer holding periods – yet are taxed more harshly. Correcting this imbalance is critical to encourage private capital into India’s innovation economy.
Chakrivardhan Kuppala, Co-Founder and Director, Prime Wealth Finserv, Hyderabad
We keep talking about how young India is, but not enough people are saving for retirement. Most people just depend on EPF, and that’s not going to be enough in the long run. The extra ₹50,000 deduction for NPS hasn’t changed in years. With prices going up and people living longer, the Budget should increase that limit to ₹1 lakh. It’ll help people think more seriously about saving for their future. Also, there is still a lot of confusion about the new tax regime. Many people switched to it last year, thinking it would be easier, but then realised they couldn’t claim anything – not for home loan interest, not for insurance, not even for NPS. People are asking, is this just an option, or is this the future? So, if it’s going to replace the old one, the government needs to say it clearly – and also include basic things people rely on to plan their finances.
Apurva Agarwal, Founder, Universal Legal, Mumbai
One of the most urgent expectations from the real estate sector is a long-overdue revision of what qualifies as ‘affordable housing’. The current price cap of ₹45 lakh may have been appropriate a few years ago, but in most urban and even Tier-2 cities, it no longer reflects ground realities. The gap between government definitions and actual market prices means that many genuine homebuyers- especially first-time and middle-income buyers – are unable to access benefits like reduced GST rates, interest subsidies, or additional tax deductions under Section 80EEA. A more realistic cap in the range of ₹75–90 lakh, possibly with city-specific thresholds, would make these policies actually usable. We’re also hoping to see a revision in the ₹2 lakh limit on home loan interest deductions under Section 24(b), which hasn’t changed since 2015 despite significantly higher EMIs. Now raising it to ₹4–5 lakh would reflect the real financial burden buyers face today, especially in markets where even modest homes cost ₹1 crore or more.
Finally, transaction costs remain high – between stamp duty and registration charges (which range from 7.5% to 12% depending on the state) and 18% GST on construction contracts. For genuine end users, these layers add up.
A recalibrated approach that includes rationalising GST for under-construction properties and encouraging states to lower stamp duties for first-time buyers could have a much greater impact than launching new schemes.