Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget for 2026-27 speech on Sunday, talked about a number of ideas for improving infrastructure finance, increasing capital spending, encouraging investments, and reforming banks. She also suggested news ways to promote private investments in infrastructure and make it easier for developers to manage risk in her Budget speech. She stated, “ I suggest creating an Infrastructure Risk Fund to assist private developers better manage risks.”
Push for infrastructure, logistics and connectivity
The Finance Minister also talked about new projects that would make transportation more efficient and will connect the economy better. One of the projects is a new freight route. “New dedicated freight corridor from Dankuni in the East to Surat in the West to promote environmentally sustainable movement of the cargo,” she mentioned.
Sitharaman also suggested making high-speed connections between bigger cities better. She proposed, “ building seven high-speed corridors between cities as growth connectors,” she added making them crucial links to help people and products move around.
Inland waterways and places where ship can be repaired
Sitharaman announced, “A ship repair ecosystem catering to inland waterways will be set up at Varanasi and Patna,” underlining out efforts to build infrastructure to facilitate inland transport.
Incentives announced for manufacturing and spending related to climate
The Union Budget 206 also mentioned incentives to strengthen the country’s manufacturing capacity. Sitharaman stated, “ I suggest incentives for making seaplanes in India.”
She also presented a big budget for carbon management in hard-to-abate sectors as parts of her proposals for climate change and industrial transition. She mentioned, “A budget of Rs 20, 000 crore is planned for starting a carbon capture and use program in industries like steel and cement.”
Changes in the banking system
Sitharaman added that the Indian banking sector is “characterised by strong balance sheet and historic high profitability” currently. She put forward that institutions’ assistance with long-term changes by stating, “creating a high-level committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat.”
She also signaled a modification in the rules. The finance minister proposed, “The budget suggests reviewing the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules.”
She also remarked, “an incentive of Rs 100 crore for a single bond issuance by a municipal corporation of more than Rs 1,000 crore.” The aim behind this is to encourage cities to get more money from the market.
The Finance Minister also suggested reorganising essential public sector lenders. She added, “As part of building public sector financial institutions, I suggest reorganising the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corporation.”
Tax relief and compliance measures that have been announced
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several tax and compliance measures. “The government proposes to exempt awards given by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal from income tax,” she stated.
She mentioned, “The Tax Collected at Source (TCS) rate on the sale of overseas tour packages has been deducted to 2% from 5% and 20% earlier.” The TCS for education and medical education under the liberalised remittance scheme would also be cut down from 5% to 2%.
To ease compliance, FM stated, “I propose a rule-based automated process for small taxpayers in the FY27 Budget.” She added that, “I propose to raise the limit for filing revised I-T returns from December 31 to March 31, on payment of a nominal fee.” The Budget 2026 also proposed a six-month foreign asset disclosure scheme for small taxpayers.
In terms of capital markets, Sitharaman mentioned, “Budget suggested raising the Securities Transaction Tax to 0.05% on commodity futures from 0.02%”. She also announced exempting the Minimum Alternate Tax for non-residents who pay tax on a fixed-rate basis.
Healthcare, education and social sector measures
In the healthcare sector, Sitharaman announced that “the government will build a network of over 1,000 accredited Indian Clinical Trial sites.” The FM also stated about building up five hubs for medical tourism.
In the pharma field, she added, “The budget proposes Biopharma SHAKTI with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over the next 5 years.” She also announced the setting up of 3 new All Indian Institute of Ayurveda.
She also proposed to support the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India to increase the production of assisted devices for divyangjan.”
The Finance Minister also presented a proposal for setting up NIMHANS-2(National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences).
For the education sector, she mentioned about “supporting the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai for establishing certain labs in 15,000 secondary schools.”
MSME and specialised institutions
For MSMEs, Sitharaman mentioned, “The government will develop a cadre of “Corporate Mitras’ in Tier-II and Tier III towns to support MSMEs.”
Capex goal for FY27 has been pushed higher
Sitharaman has declared a greater capital expenditure plan for the next fiscal year, which indicates that the government is still focused on growth through public investment. She mentioned, “I want to raise the capex target for FY26 from Rs 11.2 lakh crore to Rs 12.2 lakh crore.”