Union Budget 2026–27: Seven high-speed corridors, electronics manufacturing outlay of ₹40,000 cr among major announcements

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed to raise the outlay on electronics manufacturing to ₹40,000 crore in FY27, signalling a continued push to make India a global manufacturing hub, as she presented the Union Budget 2026–27 in Parliament. The Budget also raised capital expenditure to ₹12.2 lakh crore from ₹11.2 lakh crore in the current fiscal and outlined key infrastructure, green transition and strategic mineral initiatives aimed at boosting growth, jobs and investment amid global economic uncertainty.

Sitharaman proposed seven new high-speed rail corridors connecting cities such as Mumbai-Pune, Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Delhi-Varanasi, alongside a dedicated freight corridor from Dankuni in West Bengal to Surat in Gujarat to promote environmentally sustainable passenger and cargo movement. Notably, Kerala was left out of the high-speed rail plans, despite its strategic location along southern transport routes.

She announced dedicated rare earth corridors in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, ₹20,000 crore for a carbon capture and utilisation scheme, and investments in biopharma and electronics manufacturing, including high-tech tool rooms, container manufacturing schemes and three chemical parks.

Ahead of the Budget, Sitharaman tabled the 16th Finance Commission report, laying the framework for Centre-state tax devolution for 2026–31. She highlighted that nearly 25 crore people have come out of multi-dimensional poverty and stressed that the dividends of growth would reach farmers, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and youth.

Earlier in the day, the Finance Minister met President Droupadi Murmu and posed with her Budget team at Kartavya Bhavan, continuing the bahi-khata tradition. The Budget is being presented in a paperless format.