Budget 2026 puts spotlight on critical national infrastructure security

With Budget 2026 approaching, debates around public spending are increasingly focused on how India can protect and modernise the infrastructure that underpins its economy and public safety. From power grids and fuel pipelines to rail networks and ports, these systems are becoming more digitised and interconnected, bringing efficiency gains but also exposing new vulnerabilities.

Industry experts warn that as operational technology and industrial control systems are integrated with digital networks, failures or cyber incidents can have consequences that extend well beyond data loss. Disruptions to electricity, transportation or fuel supply can quickly escalate into safety risks and large-scale service outages. This has placed renewed attention on the resilience of what policymakers describe as critical national infrastructure (CNI).

Critical national infrastructure refers to assets, systems and networks whose disruption or destruction would have a debilitating impact on national security, economic stability, public health or safety. In India, this includes sectors such as power generation and transmission, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation, water utilities and certain government and defence systems.

Why critical national infrastructure resilience matters

Against this backdrop, Shriprakash Pandey, Chairman and Managing Director of Commtel Networks Limited, said Budget 2026 offers an opportunity to treat cyber-physical security as a core national investment priority rather than a routine technology expense.

“Budget 2026 is an opportunity to decisively strengthen India’s critical national infrastructure by recognising cyber-physical security and resilience as a core national capex priority, not merely an IT expense,” Pandey said.

He noted that vulnerabilities in Operational Technology and Industrial Control Systems environments can translate directly into safety incidents and service disruptions, particularly as sectors such as power, oil and gas, utilities and transportation continue to digitise.

Moving from regulation to execution at scale

While India has taken regulatory steps through bodies such as the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Pandey said the next phase must focus on execution at scale.

This, he added, would require sustained public funding for sector-specific institutions, workforce training, audits, security tooling and rapid-response capabilities to address threats across increasingly complex infrastructure environments.

Communications, procurement and long-term assurance

Pandey also highlighted the need to modernise mission-critical communications infrastructure, which forms the backbone of CNI operations. He said many substations, pipelines and energy corridors continue to rely on legacy networks that need to be upgraded to more resilient Internet Protocol and Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS), optical and secure wireless systems.

“We expect a strong push to modernise mission-critical communications, upgrading legacy networks to resilient IP/MPLS, optical and secure wireless systems,” Pandey said, adding that such investments could be supported through capital incentives, faster depreciation and viability-gap-style funding mechanisms.

Beyond asset creation, Pandey argued that long-term resilience depends on lifecycle assurance. He said budgetary incentives should encourage reliability, cybersecurity, digital operations and maintenance, and predictive maintenance to ensure sustained safety and uptime.

He also emphasised the importance of secure-by-design procurement norms for critical national infrastructure projects. According to Pandey, integration quality directly affects national safety, making rigorous testing, documentation, integration accountability and lifecycle support essential components of public procurement.

Support for domestic manufacturing and trusted supply chains was another priority highlighted by Pandey. He said budgetary backing for indigenous capabilities, alongside rationalised duties where local manufacturing is still developing, would help keep modernisation efforts affordable and timely.

Finally, Pandey called for the development of a dedicated Operational Technology cybersecurity talent pipeline and improved access to long-tenure capital aligned with infrastructure lifecycles. Such measures, he said, would enable Indian firms to scale responsibly while strengthening the resilience of India’s mission-critical systems.