Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a fresh allocation of ₹10,000 crore to the SME Growth Fund in her Budget speech on Sunday, February 1, 2026, aiming to provide renewed support to lakhs of small businesses across the country. The fund is expected to give a significant boost to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, enabling entrepreneurs to access much-needed capital amid a tight credit environment.

Presenting her ninth Union Budget in Parliament, Ms. Sitharaman said the fund would support the expansion of high-potential firms and help business clusters recover from prolonged stress. The allocation is also intended to revive enterprises weakened by credit constraints and outdated technology, thereby strengthening the backbone of India’s industrial ecosystem.

As part of the broader push, the Finance Minister proposed reviving 200 legacy industrial clusters through infrastructure upgradation and technology enhancement. She also announced a new scheme for container manufacturing to align India with the evolving global infrastructure landscape.

Additionally, the government will introduce a ‘Self-Reliant Fund’ with an initial corpus of ₹4,000 crore to support micro enterprises facing challenges due to the lack of guaranteed credit. The fund will work alongside incentive frameworks rewarding SMEs on parameters such as productivity, formalisation, and export readiness.