- By Aditya Jha
- Mon, 02 Feb 2026 09:07 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Budget Highlights: The Union Budget for the financial year 2026-27 was announced on Sunday, with a major focus on infrastructure, defence, healthcare, and telecommunication. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her address, informed that almost 47 per cent of the capital expenditure has been allocated for road transport, highways, and railways. While Rs 2.94 lakh crore out of the total Rs 12.2 lakh crore has been allocated for Road Transport and Highways, Rs 2.78 lakh crore will be spent to boost the Railways services.
Budget 2026: Railways In Focus
In her address, the finance minister announced that the centre will build seven high-speed rail corridors to boost the connectivity. Apart from this, one East-West dedicated freight corridor will also be built to improve the financial services across several states. The centre has focused on developing India's first high-speed rail corridor, the bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. While providing details, the ministry informed that over 55 per cent progress on these key projects was achieved as of October 2025.
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What's For Highways?
The centre has proposed a scheme for enhancement of Construction and Infrastructure Equipment (CIE), adding that it will boost the domestic manufacturing of advanced construction equipment. While there was not any direct announcement for the highways, the ministry stated that the proposed scheme will significantly improve the quality and sustainability of the projects.
The NDA government has increased capex between FY19 and FY22 by 92 per cent, leading to a significant boost in the infrastructure. The centre informed that while the capex in FY19 was Rs 3.07 lakh crore, it was Rs 5.92 lakh crore in 2022.
It further stated that India's economy has significantly improved due to investment in the infrastructure sector. As per the Economic Survey for 2025-26, the country's GDP increases by Rs 2.5 to Rs 3.5 for every rupee spent on the infrastructure projects.