For much of India's economic journey, policy has focused on the immediate: how to stimulate demand or reduce inequality. While these objectives remain valid, the budget suggests that the centre of gravity is shifting. Nirmala Sitharaman advances the proposition that India's long-term growth will depend less on periodic fiscal relief, and more on sustained investment in human capability.

This shift is visible in the budget's underlying architecture, which focuses on services with a renewed emphasis on the sector as a core growth driver. The creation of a High-Powered Education to Employment and Enterprise Standing Committee, with an ambition of achieving a 10% share of global services exports by 2047, is sensible.

An emphasis on skills, institutional depth, education-to-employment pathways and service readiness reflects realism in a world shaped by tech. It also shows a growing recognition that productivity, rather than consumption alone, must anchor India's next phase of growth.

The proposal to add 1 lakh allied health professionals over the next 5 yrs, alongside the training of 1.5 lakh caregivers, will drive employability and remain relevant across economic cycles. These roles sit at the intersection of services, demographics, and productivity in a population that is ageing.

Emphasis on domestic biopharma manufacturing and innovation further extends this capability-driven approach. By supporting biosimilars and strengthening the regulatory and manufacturing ecosystem around them, the budget recognises India's potential to emerge as a global supplier of affordable, high-quality biologic therapies.

Importantly, the budget also strengthens India's position as a global hub for clinical research. The Biopharma SHAKTI (Strategy for Healthcare Advancement Through Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) initiative, envisaging the creation of a network of over 1,000 accredited Indian clinical trial sites, will promote high-value services exports, and lead to skills development, knowledge transfer and early access to innovative therapies.

From a macroeconomic perspective, growth anchored in capability is more resilient. A skilled workforce supports higher productivity, deeper formalisation and more stable consumption over time. Investing in people is not an alternative to fiscal discipline, but one of its most reliable allies.

The budget's commitment to fiscal prudence reinforces this logic. With the fiscal deficit estimated at 4.3% of GDP, the budget demonstrates that capability creation and macroeconomic stability are not competing objectives. Long-term investments in human capital yield returns because they expand the economy's productive base without inflating recurring expenditure.

A renewed push for medical value travel will allow India to leverage its clinical excellence. The budget also seeks to empower, treating citizens not as beneficiaries to be compensated but as contributors to be enabled. By prioritising capability over immediate consumption, it signals confidence in people's ability to generate value when given the right tools and pathways.

Capability creation is a long-term investment requiring coordination across states, institutions and markets. The budget has set a direction that is intellectually coherent and economically sound, a direction that will anchor India's growth narrative to the productivity of its people.

For our economy, which aspires to durable and inclusive prosperity, that is a bet worth making.