Filmmaker and actor has Rahul Mittra hailed the Union Budget at the India–Hungary Bilateral Trade Relationship Session amidst a gathering of government officials, policymakers, diplomats and industry leaders at the Hungarian Embassy in New Delhi.
Deliberating on the evolving trade and investment partnership between India and Hungary, Rahul Mittra elaborated the salient features of the Union Budget 2026, especially with regards to support for the "Orange Economy" or the creative economy which is growing at an exponential rate in India.
Mittra hailed the government's move to support the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector, projected to require 2 million professionals by 2030 by strengthening creative talent pipelines through the establishment of AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, supported by the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai.
Mittra also welcomed the proposed 5 per cent GST for mass-market tickets as a positive step toward reaching the goal of 20,000 screens, but hoped that this will eventually expand to cover a wider ticket price band.
Pushes Single Window Clearances
He also anticipated a push for "Single-Window Clearances" and Production-Linked Incentives specifically for filmmakers, which would make India a more competitive global filming hub.
Rahul Mittra also shared his experiences of travelling to Budapest along with fellow filmmakers Imtiaz Ali and Umesh Shukla during the Indian Festival Hungary and hoped for increased cooperation between India and Hungary in the field of the arts and suggested ways to further cultural exchange between both countries.
Other prominent speakers included Annurag Batra Chairman and Editor-in-Chief BW BusinessWorld and Exchange4media Group, Abhishek Tripathy (IRS) Joint Commissioner
Tax Policy Research Unit, Ministry of Finance, Gyanendra Niraj, Deputy General Manager SEBI NRO, Sanjay Chaudhary, Vice President - Strategic and Corporate Affairs Indogulf Group, Pawanjit Grewal, Founder and Managing Director REEUDO, Levente Kardos, Hungarian Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Kritika Krishnamurthy, Founder AK & Partners, Anuroop Omkar, Director Bridge Policy Think Tank, amongst others.
