As India approaches Union Budget 2026, financial inclusion experts are advocating for a transformative shift toward gender-intentional design in financial systems to accelerate women's economic empowerment. This approach goes beyond traditional schemes and rebates, focusing on embedding women's needs and realities into the core architecture of financial products, services, and policies. The objective is to ensure financial systems work effectively for women at scale, moving from isolated initiatives to comprehensive systemic change.

Gender-Disaggregated Data as Foundation for Better Design

Gender-disaggregated data emerges as a critical priority for understanding how women engage with financial services and identifying persistent gaps. This data provides essential evidence for designing suitable products, improving fairness in credit scoring, creating responsive policies, and setting meaningful gender targets. Currently, the RBI Financial Inclusion Index tracks access, usage, and quality of financial services across India but does not reveal how effectively women are being served.

Experts propose incorporating a Gender Intentionality Index within the existing FI Index to address this gap. This enhanced framework would measure key indicators including:

• Account ownership patterns
• Credit access and utilization
• Social security enrollment rates
• Workforce diversity metrics
• Digital usage behaviors

Early implementation of gender-disaggregated approaches has shown promising results:

Women Agents as Social Infrastructure

While India's Digital Public Infrastructure has delivered significant gains in financial access through digital identity, instant payments, and direct benefit transfers, substantial opportunities remain in building financial resilience. The focus shifts to greater uptake of credit, pensions, and microinsurance through trusted, well-trained women agents operating as financial intermediaries at the community level.

Women agents function in various capacities as Bima Vahaks, Vitta Sakhis, and UPI Didis, serving as critical links in achieving India's financial inclusion goals by 2030. Their effectiveness stems from community presence, trusted relationships, and ability to explain complex financial and insurance products, enabling informed decision-making and effective claims support.

Evidence-Based Performance Advantages

Data from Jan Dhan Plus demonstrates that women agents consistently outperform their male counterparts while building stronger trust across multiple financial services. Maharashtra's UMED–State Rural Livelihood Mission provides concrete evidence of how BC Sakhis can complement Digital Public Infrastructure as social infrastructure, delivering higher transaction volumes and broader service coverage.

Strategic Priorities for Budget 2026

To realize the vision of "Insurance for All by 2047," experts recommend the upcoming Union Budget prioritize several key areas:

The proposed approach aligns with the Panch Jyoti framework for the next phase of financial inclusion, emphasizing data-driven action to strengthen women's financial resilience. This comprehensive strategy positions women not just as beneficiaries but as essential infrastructure enabling broader participation in India's evolving financial ecosystem.

As the Union Budget 2026-27 approaches, tax experts expect the government to offer meaningful relief for middle-class taxpayers while keeping the direct tax framework stable and easier to comply with ahead of the rollout of the Income-tax Act 2025 from April 1, 2026. Industry professionals have outlined comprehensive expectations focusing on higher exemptions, simplified compliance, and predictable tax rules.

Higher Basic Exemption and Standard Deduction Take Priority

CA Deepak Ukidave, Adjunct Faculty (Finance & Law) at K J Somaiya Institute of Management, emphasized that the Budget should raise the basic exemption limit from ₹6 lakh for salaried employees. He noted that the new tax regime has removed most popular deductions and exemptions under the old regime, including Section 80C and Section 80D medical insurance premium deduction, which has discouraged investments in traditional tax-saving instruments.

Nehal Mota, Co-Founder & CEO of Finnovate, suggested the Budget may consider raising the standard deduction to ₹1 lakh to help salaried taxpayers manage rising living costs. Financial educator Sakchi Jain also called for meaningful tax relief through higher standard deduction and fairer slabs.

Housing, Health and Retirement Benefits Draw Focus

Experts flagged the need to strengthen deductions and benefits linked to housing, retirement and medical costs. CA Akshay Jain, Direct Tax Partner at NPV & Associates LLP, outlined specific expectations for taxpayers under the old regime, including higher home loan interest deduction and enhanced NPS contributions.

Mota suggested allowing home loan interest deduction for self-occupied property under the new regime, citing affordability pressures and the push for home ownership. He also proposed a higher TDS threshold for senior citizens on interest income and additional health insurance relief given medical inflation.

Capital Gains Tax Simplification Remains Key Priority

Several market-linked professionals pushed for a simpler, more predictable capital gains tax structure that supports long-term investing. Jugal Mantri, Director and CEO of Anand Rathi Global Finance, said the Budget should adopt simplified and progressive personal tax slabs and enhance deductions for housing, savings and insurance.

Vinayak Magotra, Product Head & Founding Team at Centricity WealthTech, noted that domestic retail investors seek confidence that the rules won't keep changing, particularly on equity taxation. He highlighted potential reforms including STT rationalization, buyback taxation efficiency, and restoring indexation benefits for debt mutual funds.

Fixed-Income and Mutual Fund Tax Efficiency

Nikhil Aggarwal, Founder & Group CEO of Grip Invest, said Budget 2026 can accelerate bond adoption by improving liquidity and reducing friction through better market-making frameworks. He noted that long-term bond investing remains constrained by tax asymmetries such as slab-rate taxation on interest, TDS inefficiencies and unfavorable capital gains treatment.

Swapnil Aggarwal, Director at VSRK Capital, explained that AMFI's Budget wishlist aims to remove tax inefficiencies and improve mutual funds as long-term investment options. Proposals include restoring indexation benefits for debt funds, tax equality for REITs/InvITs, and capital gains simplification to improve after-tax outcomes.

Income-Tax Act Transition and Compliance Concerns

With the Income-tax Act 2025 coming into force from April 1, 2026, several professionals called for clarity on transition rules and taxpayer guidance. Tax professionals also sought rationalization of TDS and TCS rates to reduce compliance friction and improve cash flows.

Amit Amlani, Executive Director – Direct Tax at Nexdigm, said Budget 2026 should mark a shift toward predictable and principled reform, with rationalization in personal taxation and simplification of enforcement-related processes, including foreign asset disclosure clarity. Ashish Nasa, MD & CEO of Universal Trustees, urged caution on inheritance or estate tax discussions, warning that sudden measures could disrupt family-owned enterprises and long-term capital formation.