In an interaction with Finance Outlook, Jitin Chadha, Pro Chancellor, University of Design, Innovation & Technology (UDIT), points out that the Union Budget 2026-27 will be the beginning of a strategic change in terms of placing creativity as one of the essential economic drivers with special investments in design, AVGC and content infrastructure.

Jitin Chadha is one of the most renowned education entrepreneurs and the Pro Chancellor of the University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT) and has completed more than 20 years of experience in designing industry-oriented higher learning models in India.

The Union Budget 2026–27 marks a turning point in how India is beginning to approach design, content and creative capability. For an education system that has historically prioritised conventional professional pathways, this shift carries real significance. By placing the Orange Economy firmly on the national growth agenda, the Budget more explicitly acknowledges creativity as a source of employment, innovation and industry-ready value in a digital-first economy.

This recognition comes at a consequential time. India’s demographic advantage will translate into growth only if higher education aligns with the industries shaping the next decade. Manufacturing and technology will remain central. Competitiveness, however, will increasingly be defined by creative capability embedded in products, services and intellectual property. With global supply chains under pressure, ideas and IP scale across borders with fewer constraints than physical goods. Countries that build not only skilled workers, but also original content and globally relevant design capability, will shape the next phase of value creation.

It is in this context that the budget’s focus on strengthening India’s creative pipeline assumes importance. The proposal to establish AVGC Content Creator Labs across 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, supported through the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai, represents an intervention of unusual scale. The proposal to create a new National Institute of Design in Eastern India through a challenge route signals intent to build regional capacity where it has historically been limited. The National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid, aimed at digitally documenting places of cultural, spiritual and heritage significance, also carries economic potential by opening up structured opportunities for researchers, historians, content creators and technology partners.

Yet the real impact of these measures will be determined by what happens inside institutions. India has no shortage of creative talent. The persistent challenge has been building consistent education-to-employment pathways that convert talent into capability at scale. In many institutions, creative programmes continue to follow outdated academic templates, where syllabus completion and transcripts take precedence over professional readiness. Professional practice is shaped by real-world complexity, cross-disciplinary collaboration and accountability for problem-solving decisions and outcomes. This requires a shift from output-driven training to capability-building, anchored in industry practice and live project exposure. Without this shift, new investments risk scaling capacity while carrying forward older gaps.

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Labs and institutions are important enablers, but outcomes depend on pedagogy, faculty capability and sustained exposure to real practice. Without that, new investments risk expanding capacity while repeating older gaps. If the aim is to build a workforce for the creative economy, universities and colleges must broaden the way design education is understood and delivered. Design must be taught beyond aesthetics, with an interdisciplinary approach grounded in systems thinking and real-world problem-solving. The future demands stronger literacy in user behaviour, narrative intelligence, cultural context, ethics and commercial awareness. These are not optional additions. They are employability fundamentals in a design-led and platform-driven economy.

Faculty capability will be equally decisive. Strong infrastructure without strong faculty produces limited learning outcomes. Creative disciplines require educators who can bridge theory and contemporary practice. Institutions, therefore, need structured pathways for continuous faculty development and for practitioners to contribute meaningfully to teaching, mentoring and curriculum evolution.

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The budget’s proposal to support five university townships along major industrial and logistics corridors is relevant in this context. In creative disciplines, proximity to industry ecosystems directly affects exposure, project access and the quality of portfolio-building. It also improves the transition from education to employment by making industry-linked learning a structural feature rather than an exception.

The committee’s mandate to assess the impact of AI on jobs and embed AI into education from the school level introduces another dimension that institutions must prepare for. In design and content industries, AI will alter workflows and shift baseline skill expectations. Education leaders must respond with maturity by teaching AI literacy while strengthening judgment, originality and ethical reasoning. The objective should be to develop professionals who can think, decide and create responsibly, not simply operate tools.

India has the cultural depth, storytelling richness and talent base to become a serious global player in the creative economy. The question is whether our institutions can build the systems required to convert this potential into sustained capability. Union Budget 26-27 offers an opening. With disciplined institutional commitment, this can become a milestone for India’s creative capability at scale.