Ludhiana, February 1
World MSME Forum has demanded the resignation of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting a directionless budget and destroying the economy of India. Reacting to the Union Budget 2026-27, Forum President Badish Jindal said, “Fiscal deficit of 1695768 Crores will be devastating for the economy of the nation, India will have to pay 1403972 crore as interest payment which is 20% of the total budget. Nirmala Sitharaman has ruined the economy of this country, exports have decreased from 456 billion dollars to 442 billion dollars in the last two years and imports have increased from 686 crores to 729 crores in the last one year. Thus, last year the country witnessed a massive trade loss of $287 billion (24 Lakh Crores). In the past year, the rupee has been Asia’s worst performing currency, falling from 84 to 92 against the dollar.”
The Forum also pointed out that in the Economic Survey, the share of industry in GDP was down, so there was time to provide export incentives, freight subsidies, and interest subsidies to industry, but there was nothing for industry. “Decisions that proved to be the final nail in the coffin for MSMEs: The MSME budget for 2025-26 was set at ₹22,896 crore, which was revised to ₹11,800 crore. The budget of Prime Minister Employment Guarantee Scheme for 2025-26 was kept at Rs 11954 crore but it was also revised to Rs 2548 crore. The skill development budget revised from 6100 crores to 2703 Crores. 3000 crores were kept reserved in the budget for setting up of new ITI’s, which were revised to 356 Crores”, sated Jindal.
Jindal added that these are only the revised figures whereas the actual expenditure will surely be much more less than these revised figures, while adding, “Punjab has been completely ignored in the budget. These figures shows that Nirmala Sitharaman has done fraud with the MSME by revising the MSME budget to almost half of the announced budget. This means that budget document has no value and is a major fraud with the Public.”
