Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in Budget 2026 that NRI investment limits in Indian equities will double to 10% individually (from 5%) and 24% aggregate for Persons Resident Outside India (PROI), including NRIs and OCIs, via the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS), enabling direct access without FPI routing.
The reforms aim to attract patient diaspora capital, reduce FPI dependence, and support sectors like banking, financial services, capital goods, and technology.
Budget 2026 also set out a capacity-building spending plan that steers long-term capital toward Infrastructure & Transport, manufacturing, logistics and technology-driven growth, while maintaining fiscal discipline with a fiscal deficit of 4.3% of GDP and spending of ₹41.3 lakh crore.
Transport emerged as one of the biggest allocation areas, with the budget setting aside ₹5.98 lakh crore for the sector, positioning public investment as a growth driver.
For NRIs weighing where to deploy long-term money, the budget’s sector signals pointed to assets linked to roads, rail, ports and logistics corridors that can improve productivity and support wider industrial activity.
India’s Budget 2026 framed infrastructure spending as a multiplier across the economy, tying government outlays to demand for steel, cement and capital goods, and shaping where companies and funds could see the clearest policy tailwinds.
Alongside the transport push, the budget laid out an industrial revival agenda that included reviving 200 industrial clusters and expanding ambitions in a semiconductor mission, electronics components, chemical parks and container manufacturing.
The manufacturing direction set an explicit goal of moving up the value chain and reducing import dependency, a strategy that places emphasis on domestic capacity rather than near-term consumption.
In technology and IT services, the budget emphasized digital governance systems, services exports and technology adoption, positioning India’s services exports as a global growth engine.
A second channel for capacity building came through logistics and exports, with the budget pointing to customs system modernization and cargo clearance reforms, alongside infrastructure spending designed to expand logistics capacity.
The defence sector received a headline allocation of ₹5.94 lakh crore, with the budget tying spending to a push toward domestic defence production.
Healthcare and pharma received a targeted customs signal, with customs duty exemptions on 17 cancer drugs, set against what the budget described as structural healthcare demand.
For overseas Indians assessing macro risks alongside sector opportunity, the budget presented a fiscal framework that included Debt-to-GDP at 55.6% and borrowings at 24% of receipts, alongside the fiscal deficit of 4.3% of GDP.
The budget’s sector map also sketched different levels of support and time horizons, describing infrastructure as “Very High” support over the long term, manufacturing as “High” support over a medium–long horizon, IT services as “Moderate–High” support over a medium horizon, logistics as “High” support over a medium horizon, defence as “High” support over the long horizon, and healthcare as “Moderate” support with a defensive profile.
Investment angles highlighted by the budget direction included infrastructure funds and ETFs, engineering, construction and capital goods companies, and logistics and port operators, tied to the transport allocation of ₹5.98 lakh crore and the view that public investment remains a growth driver.
The manufacturing revival signals pointed toward electronics manufacturing firms, capital goods suppliers and specialty chemicals, tracking the budget’s focus on 200 industrial clusters, the semiconductor mission, electronics components, chemical parks and container manufacturing.
Technology-related opportunities in the budget’s framing covered IT services majors, cloud and data center infrastructure, and SaaS-focused firms, reflecting the emphasis on digital governance systems, services exports and technology adoption.
Logistics and export ecosystem themes pointed toward shipping and port companies, warehousing REITs, and freight and logistics firms, supported by plans for customs modernization, cargo clearance reforms and logistics expansion through infrastructure spending.
Defence manufacturing opportunities in the budget’s direction included defence equipment manufacturers and aerospace suppliers, aligned with the ₹5.94 lakh crore defence allocation and the domestic production push.
Healthcare and pharma signals pointed toward pharma exporters and hospitals and diagnostics, reinforced by customs duty exemptions on 17 cancer drugs and the budget’s view of structural demand.
Risks flagged alongside these sector signals included execution delays and global commodity price volatility in infrastructure-linked spending, and global demand cycles for manufacturing.
Technology-related risk factors included a US/EU tech demand slowdown, while defence-linked risks included policy timelines and export approvals.
Across the budget framework, NRIs also face wider market risks cited in the plan: a global slowdown affecting exports, currency volatility, interest rate cycles and geopolitical risks.
Budget 2026’s policy changes for overseas investors sought to make participation more direct, including a standardized direct PIS route for overseas individuals and entities that bypasses complex intermediaries.
The budget also highlighted GIFT City as a hub for rupee and foreign currency products with diaspora-friendly regulations, as part of a broader push to make long-term equity and related products more accessible.
Divam Sharma of Green Portfolio PMS described the reform push in terms of “patient capital” from Middle East/North America/Europe for equities.
Shashank Udupa of Smallcase pointed to rupee stability benefits, while Tanvi Kanchan of Anand Rathi said she sees a broader shareholder base.
The spending profile underscored what the budget described as a move away from short-term consumption boosts and toward capacity building, with policy emphasis grouped around infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics and technology-driven growth, while keeping the fiscal deficit at 4.3% of GDP.
For NRIs, the combination of sector allocations and new market access rules set up a single theme: long-term capital is being steered toward projects and industries that build productive capacity and strengthen exports.
“Invest in India’s capacity, not consumption.”
That framing directed attention to infrastructure-led growth, manufacturing scale-up, export and logistics expansion, and tech-driven services as areas where government policy, capital spending and structural demand are aligned in Budget 2026.
Nris Shift Capital Into Infrastructure & Transport After Budget 2026
Budget 2026 focuses on attracting NRI capital by doubling equity investment limits and simplifying market access through a standardized PIS route. The government is prioritizing long-term productivity over short-term consumption, with massive allocations for infrastructure, defense, and manufacturing. By keeping the fiscal deficit at 4.3%, the budget seeks to balance aggressive growth in logistics and technology with macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline.
