Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2026–27 on Sunday, against the backdrop of renewed geo-economic disruptions affecting India. With these pressures likely to spill into the coming financial year, the Budget offers a window into how the government plans to respond to a set of pressing challenges. In this five-part series, we use charts to examine the Budget’s response to these pressures across 15 key concerns.
This part looks at exports, textiles, and startups. Each topic has a pair of charts—one presenting the context the budget faced and the other showing what the Budget delivered.
Export revival
A defining theme of 2025-26 has been the disruptive impact of tariff-led trade policies of US President Donald Trump. India remains vulnerable as the US is its largest export market, accounting for about 20% of total exports.
Tariffs imposed by the US, a steep 50%, have put India in a tough spot and the impact was visible as the US' share has declined in recent months. While on a broader level, exporters have managed to diversify their markets, support from the government is still needed against the backdrop of a volatile global environment.
Textiles: Stitch in time
The textile and apparel industry is in need of a booster shot. Export growth, after contracting in late 2023, recovered through 2024 and peaked at over 19% year-on-year in October. The momentum extended into early 2025 but soon turned patchy, with growth flattening mid-year before slipping into contraction between August and October, including a steep 12.1% decline, according to CMIE data.
While November recorded a double-digit rebound, uncertainty persists. The pressure is compounded by the US imposing 50% tariffs, making Indian goods less competitive than those of key rivals—even as the sector battles rising input costs and heavy compliance burdens.
Startup skew
India’s startup ecosystem has seen vigorous growth, with the country now home to over 200,000 recognised startups from around 500 a decade ago. The growth has come on the back of the ‘Startup India’ programme, a key pillar of the government’s Make in India programme that aims to give fillip to Indian manufacturing.
However, startup activity remains geographically concentrated, with ten states accounting for over 80% of recognised firms. Maharashtra leads with nearly 36,000 startups, followed by Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, each hosting around 20,000. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Telangana also feature among the top ten.
Read the other stories in the series here: