New Delhi: As part of the Union Budget 2026–27, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced the formation of a new committee tasked with assessing the impact of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), on India’s services sector. The panel will focus on identifying areas with the highest potential for growth and innovation, aiming to ensure that AI adoption strengthens the country’s services ecosystem.
Speaking in Parliament during her ninth consecutive Budget presentation, Sitharaman highlighted the government’s commitment to “reforms over rhetoric” and underscored India’s path toward becoming a Viksit Bharat. The finance minister emphasized that harnessing technology is central to sustainable economic growth, employment generation, and global competitiveness.
“The committee will prioritize sectors where technology can optimize productivity and expand opportunities in the services space,” Sitharaman said.
The announcement comes amid growing anticipation from India’s technology industry, which has long advocated for policy support, infrastructure development, and liquidity measures to accelerate AI adoption. In this context, the Economic Survey 2026, tabled in Parliament on January 29, recognized AI not merely as a prestige technology but as a strategic economic tool. The survey recommended a bottom-up, sector-specific approach that encourages open, interoperable systems and collaborative innovation.
Industry experts welcomed the move, noting that such a committee could streamline AI deployment across IT services, finance, healthcare, logistics, and other knowledge-intensive sectors, while simultaneously ensuring skill development, regulatory alignment, and investment readiness.
With this initiative, the government signals its intention to leverage AI as a driver of competitiveness and job creation, reinforcing India’s position as a global technology and services hub, while carefully evaluating the socio-economic impact of automation and emerging technologies on the workforce.
Sitharaman’s Budget presentation also brought her closer to matching former Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s record of ten consecutive Budgets, highlighting her long-standing role in steering India’s fiscal and economic policy.