CHENNAI: The Union Budget presented this month cannot be seen in isolation, but as a continuum of the three budgets since the present government came to power in 2024, K Balasubramanian, joint secretary, Ministry of Finance, said on Saturday.

Addressing virtually the discussion organised by the school of management in Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya, Kanchipuram, he said there are three basic foundations that tie the budgets — macroeconomic stability, fiscal discipline and focus on capital expenditure on infrastructure.

He highlighted that thrust on city economic regions and high speed rail network will go a long way in the country’s economic development, by pointing out a similar transformation facilitated by the Golden Quadrilateral highways project, first announced in 1999.

He said there was also a lot of focus on technology and artificial intelligence. The budget did not focus on headline giveaways, but instead on getting the basics right to push economic growth and employment generation, he added .

The discussion titled ‘Focus: Budget 2026 - What Changed? What Matters?’ saw the participation of advocate MR Venkatesh, NDR InvIT Managers CEO Krishnan Iyer, and Deloitte partner KR Sekar.