Finance Ministry to conduct factory visits for ground-level inputs ahead of Budget planning

The initiative, led by the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry, will involve senior DEA officials visiting large, medium and small manufacturing units, as well as externally aided projects, to assess operational and policy challenges across sectors.      According to an official communication reviewed by PTI, the visits aim to provide direct insights into infrastructure bottlenecks, regulatory hurdles, supply chain disruptions, access to finance, skilling gaps and technology adoption issues affecting businesses.      An email seeking comment from the finance ministry did not receive any immediate response. Despite strong public capital expenditure and resilience in some sectors, private investment activity in India has remained uneven amid global economic uncertainty and tightening financial conditions.      The ongoing West Asia crisis has added to industry concerns by driving up crude oil prices, weakening the rupee and widening current account deficit, while also disrupting supply chains and increasing freight and input costs for businesses dependent on imports and global trade flows.

To get a better grip on the extant of the issue, the DEA wants to complement macro-level analysis with granular, ground level insights. And so teams of up to five members, led by either additional secretary, joint secretary or a director in the ministry, will undertake 2-3 days of field visits across different industrial clusters.     Under the programme guidelines, teams will be required to cover manufacturing, infrastructure, employment and research sectors, as well as engage with at least two startups during each visit.      The initiative is designed to strengthen evidence-based policymaking by incorporating real-time field inputs into economic policy decisions and upcoming Union Budget proposals, the DEA said.      An April 17, 2026 office order issued by the department said the evolving global economic environment required “structured, field-based assessment exercises” to generate first-hand insights for more targeted policy interventions.

Detailed sectoral reports from the visits are to be submitted to the secretary of economic affairs within 10 days of completion to support policy formulation and implementation reviews.      Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry has been asked to facilitate interactions between companies and visiting officials, with businesses encouraged to share policy recommendations and operational concerns with the teams.      The visits are intended to facilitate direct interaction with industry and to better understand operational realities, including infrastructure constraints, regulatory challenges, access to finance, skilling requirements and technology adoption.      The initiative aims to strengthen evidence-based policymaking through structured, field-based assessment exercises, according to the DEA order.

It aims to bridge policy gaps and improving design and delivery. It also aims at enhancing policy precision, ensuring all divisions of DEA actively contribute to economic policy formulation, fostering a more integrated and holistic approach.

The move also looks to systematically capture sector-specific operational challenges, including infrastructure bottlenecks, regulatory hurdles, supply chain constraints, access to finance, skilling gaps, technology adoption issues which will assess the effectiveness of existing policies and schemes, including their implementation challenges at the ground level.      This initiative, the DEA said, will institutionalilse a feedback loop between field realities and policy design, ensuring that policy interventions are both responsive and targeted.      Detailed sectoral report are to be submitted within the stipulated timeline to support policy formulation and the upcoming Union Budget proposals.