Indian Community can use Budget 2026 to strengthen as a collective whole: MOS Dinesh

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to upskill, looking out for one another to uplift the vulnerable, and tapping into new growth opportunities are key ways the Indian community can use Budget schemes to “uplift ourselves,” said Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, and Manpower, Dinesh Vasu Dash.

“AI provides opportunities for all of us, and Indians inclusive,” he said during a post-Budget interview with tabla! on Feb 13. “We can always use AI to help us to grow into areas that we are probably not looking at today. That must be something that’s within the DNA of the Indian community; we have to start improving and keep on improving, as we have done over the last couple of decades.”

Noting that AI is transforming both businesses and daily lives, MOS Dinesh added that Singapore must harness technology to remain future-ready.

He noted that Prime Minister (PM) Lawrence Wong’s Budget speech was set against the backdrop of a changing global geopolitical system and a shifting social compact. It sought to find ways for a small country like Singapore to thrive in a “contested and complicated world,” MOS Dinesh observed.

“The Indian community, as what PM Wong had said before, is a community that punches above its weight. That is true, and we have to continue punching above our weight and to use the budget.”

Mr Dinesh highlighted the importance of the community uplifting its most vulnerable members, specifically by utilising available Budget schemes.

Citing the S$1 billion top-up for the Startup SG Equity fund, which increases available funding, he noted that Indian startups in Singapore should “make use of these opportunities to then scale overseas,” whether to India or elsewhere.

Set against the backdrop of a changing global geopolitical system and a shifting social compact, PM Wong’s Budget 2026 speech sought to find ways for a small country like Singapore to thrive in a “contested and complicated world,” noted MOS Dinesh Vasu.

PHOTO: T. KAVI

Empowering Youth Through CPF

Mr Dinesh also called on Indian youth to tap into new investment products from the CPF Board. Working with commercial providers, these products will offer simplified, low-cost, and diversified “life-cycle” options. These aim to allow those willing to take some risk to earn higher returns than current interest rates.

“It’s very exciting to see that CPF is going to be having a further engine to allow for up to six per cent growth,” said MOS Dinesh. “Having said that, it has to be borne in mind that anything that gives you a certain amount of returns will also have risk, and it’s all a function of the economic cycle. So we’ve got to go in with the eyes open.”

Beyond simply earning a wage, the government is encouraging youth to maximise their CPF funds. By taking a long-term horizon of 20 to 40 years, Mr Dinesh affirmed that funds will accumulate despite market fluctuations.

A “We-First” Society

Beyond fiscal policy, PM Wong also introduced plans to “strengthen our social compact,” highlighting the need to be a “We-First” society that prioritises the collective over the individual.

“We can only be strong as Singaporeans if we look at ourselves as a collective whole and we look at ourselves as a group, and when we are strong as a group, then we can be strong as a country,” MOS Dinesh added.