Pre-Budget Expectations for Union Budget 2026–27: Creative Services, Branding & IP-Led Growth by Siddharth Jalan, Founder & Chief Brand Strategist, Squid
Below the Pre-Budget Expectations for Union Budget 2026–27: Creative Services, Branding & IP-Led Growth by Siddharth Jalan, Founder & Chief Brand Strategist, Squid
" Ahead of the Union Budget 2026–27, it is clear that India’s services economy has outgrown the scale narrative. The real question now is how much value we are willing to create and retain.
Across advertising and marketing, Indian firms today work at the centre of business thinking. In fashion, consumer goods, BFSI, and education, the role of agencies has expanded from execution to shaping how brands are understood, trusted, and remembered. This shift matters because brands increasingly determine who competes globally and who gets left behind.
In fashion and consumer businesses, brand strength directly affects pricing power and export readiness. In BFSI, communication builds confidence at scale, especially as products become more digital and abstract. In education, credibility and clarity influence global partnerships, student mobility, and long-term institutional value. In each case, creative and marketing services quietly drive economic outcomes, even if policy frameworks rarely acknowledge it.
What the industry needs from the budget is clarity. Predictable taxation, simpler compliance, and smoother cross-border operations go a long way for firms that work across markets and currencies. Most agencies are talent-heavy, IP-led businesses. Policy friction slows down decisions that should otherwise be straightforward.
There is also a noticeable shift toward IP creation. Brands are thinking beyond campaigns and into platforms, formats, data systems, and AI-led tools that can travel across markets. Agencies are increasingly helping build these assets. Clear guidelines around IP ownership, licensing, and monetisation would encourage more long-term investment and help Indian firms move from project work to repeatable value creation.
Talent remains the foundation. The future of this industry sits at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, data, design, and AI. Budget focus on applied education, industry-linked skilling, and AI capability building would strengthen the talent pipeline across sectors like BFSI, education, and global consumer brands.
Tax rationalisation for small and mid-sized services firms would also help. Lower friction and reinvestment-friendly structures allow agencies to put capital back into people, tools, and R&D rather than optimising around short-term constraints.
At SquidJC, we work with brands across fashion, consumer goods, BFSI, and education that are building for long-term relevance, both in India and globally. Union Budget 2026–27 has the opportunity to support this shift by backing clarity, capability, and ownership.
A budget that understands the role of brands, IP, and creative services strengthens India’s position as a serious, value-led exporter of services."
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