Budget 2026–27 Mega Infra Push: Seven High-Speed Rail Corridors, City Economic Regions and Rs 10,000 Cr SME Growth Fund

Key facts

• Capital expenditure for 2026–27 raised to Rs 12.2 lakh crore.
• Seven new high-speed rail corridors announced: Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi and Varanasi-Siliguri.
• City Economic Regions to get Rs 5,000 crore per region over five years.
• New Dedicated Freight Corridor to link Dankuni in the East with Surat in the West.
• 20 National Waterways to be operationalised in five years, starting with NW-5 in Odisha connecting Talcher, Angul, Kalinga Nagar to Paradeep and Dhamra ports.
• Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund to provide partial credit guarantees to lenders for private developers.
• Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund launched to incentivise small and medium enterprises based on select criteria.
• Self-Reliant India Fund topped up with Rs 2,000 crore to support micro enterprises.
• Three dedicated Chemical Parks to be established with central support to States.
• Rare Earth Corridors to be set up in Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for mining, processing, research and manufacturing.
• Mega Textile Parks to be developed in challenge mode, including focus on technical textiles.
• Ship repair ecosystem for inland waterways to be set up at Varanasi and Patna.
• Coastal Cargo Promotion Scheme to raise share of inland waterways and coastal shipping from 6 % to 12 % by 2047.
• Seaplane Viability Gap Funding Scheme introduced to support seaplane operations.