Sensex down over 1,500 points after Budget, but 27 stocks drawing attention

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman doubled down on the government’s infrastructure led growth strategy in Union Budget 2026, proposing a sharp increase in capital expenditure to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY2026-27, up from Rs 11.2 lakh crore in the current fiscal.

The Budget underscored the scale of India’s public investment cycle over the past decade, with capital expenditure rising more than five fold from Rs 2 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 11.2 lakh crore in the FY2025-26 Budget Estimates. Sitharaman reiterated that infrastructure creation would remain a priority, particularly in cities with populations above five lakh, including fast growing tier 2 and tier 3 urban centres.

From a market perspective, the capex heavy Budget announcements have brought several sectors into focus, highlighting stocks that could emerge as key beneficiaries of the government’s Rs 12 lakh crore infrastructure push. Here’s everything you need to know.


Infra push: The government’s emphasis on high lift systems for multi storey infrastructure and tunnel boring machinery for metro projects is directly positive for capital goods manufacturers such as Action Construction Equipment, Elecon Engineering and Crown Lifters, which supply heavy duty lifting systems, tunnelling equipment and niche construction machinery. Further, Ceigall, Afcons Infrastructure, NCC, KEC International, GR Infraprojects and H.G. Infra are also likely to benefit, says Divyam Mour, Research Analyst, SAMCO Securities.

Rare earth safety: The government’s push to develop rare earth corridors across Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu marks a strategic move to secure India’s critical mineral supply chain and reduce dependence on China. This policy direction is structurally positive for players such as Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation. NLC India’s collaboration with IREL (India) Limited enhances execution capabilities in rare earth mining and processing.

High speed corridors: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to develop seven high speed rail corridors, covering key economic routes such as Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Bengaluru-Chennai. This policy thrust is materially positive for railway infrastructure players such as Rail Vikas Nigam Limited and IRCON International, while electrification and civil contractors including KEC International, NCC and Ashoka Buildcon are likely to see sustained order momentum. Financing support from Indian Railway Finance Corporation further enhances funding visibility, strengthening the long term outlook for rail infrastructure expansion.

India’s data centre push: Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a long tax holiday to attract global cloud players to set up operations in India. The proposal offers a tax holiday until 2047 for foreign companies that provide global cloud services using data centres located in India, provided services to Indian customers are routed through an Indian reseller. The move is aimed at positioning India as a critical node in global digital infrastructure. The proposed tax holiday could be a long term structural positive for AI and data centre ecosystem stocks such as Techno Electric and Engineering, Netweb Technologies, Orient Technologies, Anant Raj and Cummins India.

Also Read | Union Budget 2026: FM plans FEMA overhaul, introduces total return swaps for corporate bonds

Medical tourism push: To promote India as a hub for medical tourism services, Sitharaman proposed to launch a scheme to support states in establishing five regional medical hubs, in partnership with the private sector. These hubs will serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational and research facilities. They will have AYUSH centres, Medical Value Tourism Facilitation Centres and infrastructure for diagnostics, post care and rehabilitation. These hubs will provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals including doctors and AHPs. The likes of Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare, Aster DM and Narayana Healthcare are possible beneficiaries.

On the macroeconomic front, the government projected GDP growth of 7.4% for the current financial year, with inflation expected to stay close to 2%. The fiscal deficit was pegged at 4.4% of GDP, signalling continued commitment to fiscal consolidation even as public spending remains elevated.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)