In the Union Budget for the financial year 2026-’27 presented on Sunday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed to increase capital expenditure to Rs 12.2 lakh crore.
The capital expenditure that had been proposed for the current fiscal year was Rs 11.2 lakh crore.
The amount proposed on Sunday would be an 8.9% increase.
The revised estimate for 2025-’26 was Rs 10.9 lakh crore, the Union Finance Ministry said on Sunday.
Capital expenditure is the money that the government spends on building infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals.
Sitharaman proposed allocating Rs 5,000 crore to each City Economic Region over a five-year period.
She also proposed to set up a new dedicated freight corridors connecting Dankuni, West Bengal and Gujarat’s Surat, 20 new national waterways and seven high-speed rail corridors between major cities.
This marks Sitharaman’s ninth consecutive Budget and sets a record for continuous tenure in the finance ministry. This is the first time that the Union Budget is being presented on a Sunday.
The Budget is expected to outline measures aimed at sustaining economic growth, maintaining fiscal discipline and advancing reforms intended to shield the economy from global trade frictions, including the impact of United States-imposed tariffs.
The government’s annual Economic Survey that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday predicted that India’s real gross domestic product is expected to grow between 6.8% and 7.2% in the financial year 2026-’27.
The document said that the cumulative impact of policy reforms in recent years appeared to have lifted the economy’s medium-term growth potential closer to 7%.
The Economic Survey, tabled by Sitharaman in Parliament three days ahead of the Union Budget, details the state of the country’s economy and suggests measures to boost growth.
On Saturday, while silver prices fell sharply by nearly 19% to Rs 3.1 lakh per kg, gold prices declined by more than 2% to Rs 1.6 lakh per 10 grams, as investors booked profits amid a global market rout linked to a stronger US dollar.
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!