Presenting the Union Budget 2026-27 in Parliament recently, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said the government’s foremost kartavya is to accelerate and sustain economic growth by boosting productivity, competitiveness and resilience amid global volatility. The Finance Minister highlighted a sharp rise in public capital expenditure from Rs 2 trillion in FY2014-15 to Rs 11.2 trillion in BE 2025-26, proposing a further increase to Rs 12.2 trillion in FY2026-27 to sustain infrastructure momentum. Over the past decade, large-scale public infrastructure has been supported through new financing instruments such as Infrastructure Investment Trusts and Real Estate Investment Trusts, alongside institutions including NIIF and NABFID. The Budget proposes faster recycling of CPSE real estate assets through dedicated REITs. To strengthen private sector confidence during the construction phase, the government will set up an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund, offering calibrated partial credit guarantees to lenders. For environmentally sustainable cargo movement, new Dedicated Freight Corridors are proposed between Dankuni and Surat, along with the operationalisation of 20 National Waterways over five years, starting with NW-5 in Odisha. A Coastal Cargo Promotion Scheme aims to raise the share of inland waterways and coastal shipping from 6 per cent to 12 per cent by 2047. The Budget also proposes seven high-speed rail corridors linking key city pairs, incentives for indigenous seaplane manufacturing through a Viability Gap Funding scheme, and an outlay of Rs 200 billion over five years for Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage across power, steel, cement, refining and chemicals sectors. Focusing on urban growth, the government will map City Economic Regions across Tier II and Tier III cities and temple towns, with an allocation of Rs 50 billion per region over five years to strengthen agglomeration-led development.