No IIT, IIMs this year in FM Nirmala Sitaraman's Budget 2026
India Today
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Union Budget 2026 prioritised youth empowerment, women in STEM and skilling reforms, while skipping major announcements for IITs and IIMs, marking a shift from last year's higher-education focus.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her ninth consecutive Union Budget on Sunday, the first time in independent India that the Budget was delivered on a Sunday.
While the government reiterated its reform-driven growth agenda with a sharp focus on youth power (Yuva Shakti), the Budget stood out for what it left out: no major, broad-based announcements for premier institutions such as IITs and IIMs this year.
Presenting the Budget, Sitharaman said that over 350 reforms have been rolled out to boost job creation and strengthen India's growth engine.
The Finance Minister announced several initiatives aimed at transforming the education ecosystem, including a strong push to increase women's participation in STEM disciplines, new programmes to encourage youth engagement with emerging technologies, the establishment of new Ayurveda institutes, and the setting up of content creator labs in schools to nurture digital and creative skills from an early age.
Together, these measures signal the government's intent to modernise education while expanding learning opportunities beyond conventional academic pathways.
Unlike previous years, the 2026 Budget did not include any major allocation or expansion plan specifically for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at a broader level.
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