Budget 2026: Nirmala Sitharaman proposes hiking capital expenditure to Rs 12.2 lakh crore

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.

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.