By Enersider Desk
With elections in West Bengal expected in April this year, the Union Government has left no stone unturned to lure voters in the eastern state through a series of Budget 2026-27 announcements. On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her ninth budget speech, emphasised infrastructure development, announcing the establishment of new Dedicated Freight Corridors connecting Dankuni in the East to Surat in the West.
The Budget’s focus extended beyond West Bengal to the eastern region as a whole. FM Sitharaman announced the operationalisation of 20 new National Waterways (NWs) over the next five years, starting with NW-5 in Odisha, linking mineral-rich areas of Talcher and Angul and industrial hubs like Kalinga Nagar to the Ports of Paradeep and Dhamra.
Spotlighting the government’s eastern focus, she proposed the development of an integrated East Coast Industrial Corridor with a key node at Durgapur (West Bengal), creation of five tourism destinations in the five Purvodaya States, and provision of 4,000 e-buses. She also announced a Scheme for Development of Buddhist Circuits in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura, covering preservation of temples and monasteries, pilgrimage interpretation centers, connectivity, and pilgrim amenities.
Purvodaya, or ‘Rise of the East,’ is a central government initiative aimed at accelerating the development of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh, transforming these states into a key growth engine for the national economy.
To address the Indian design industry’s shortage of talent, the FM proposed establishing a new National Institute of Design in the eastern region through a challenge route, boosting design education and development.
To diversify farm outputs, enhance productivity, increase farmers’ incomes, and create employment opportunities, the government will support high-value crops such as coconut, sandalwood, cocoa, and cashew in coastal areas. Agar trees will be promoted in the North East, while hilly regions will see support for nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and pine nuts.
Through these initiatives, the Union Government underscored its focus on the Purvodaya States and the North-Eastern Region, reinforcing infrastructure, industrial growth, tourism, education, and agriculture as pillars of development.
Charged And Future-Ready
By Enersider Desk
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, highlighted that new technologies are transforming production systems while sharply increasing demands on water, energy, and critical minerals. To accelerate and sustain economic growth, the Union Budget proposed interventions across six key areas: scaling up manufacturing in seven strategic and frontier sectors, rejuvenating legacy industrial sectors, creating ‘Champion MSMEs,’ delivering a powerful push to infrastructure, ensuring long-term energy security and stability, and developing city economic regions.
As part of the energy transition and security agenda, the FM proposed extending the basic customs duty (BCD) exemption given to capital goods used in manufacturing lithium-ion cells for batteries, to also cover those used for manufacturing lithium-ion cells for battery energy storage systems. Additionally, imports of sodium antimonate for use in the manufacture of solar glass have been exempted from BCD.
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said, “The Union Budget 2026 takes a decisive step towards advancing India’s renewable energy and storage ecosystem. By extending the BCD exemption on capital goods for lithium-ion cells and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), the Budget aims to accelerate grid-scale energy storage and enable seamless integration of renewable energy. The exemption of BCD on sodium antimonate used in solar glass will further strengthen domestic solar manufacturing. Together, these measures reflect a strong commitment to building a resilient, self-reliant, and sustainable energy future for India.”
On the nuclear power front, the FM extended the existing BCD exemption on imports of goods required for nuclear power projects till 2035 and expanded it to cover all nuclear plants, irrespective of capacity. Imports of capital goods required for processing critical minerals in India have also been exempted from BCD.
FM also excluded the entire value of biogas while calculating Central Excise duty payable on biogas-blended CNG. Gaurav Kedia, Chairman, Indian Biogas Association, welcomed the move, noting that customs duty exemption improves market viability and clean mobility adoption, addressing a long-standing sectoral demand. He added, “It is a forward-looking budget that aligns with India’s clean energy and circular economy ambitions. The focus on championing MSMEs through equity support, enhanced infrastructure outlay, liquidity reforms, and skill-building will directly strengthen the bioenergy ecosystem and domestic manufacturing. The decisive push for CCUS at scale across power, steel, refineries, and chemicals is a critical step in accelerating India’s energy transition and opening pathways for green and renewable fuels.”
To reduce input costs, boost domestic manufacturing, and promote export competitiveness, customs duty on several commodities has been reduced, including a nil duty from 7.5% on sodium antimonate for solar glass and nil duty from 7.5% on all goods for nuclear power generation.
India’s Infrastructure Leap
By Enersider Desk
Delivering a powerful push to infrastructure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman increased public capital expenditure on the sector to ₹12.2 lakh crore. In her Budget speech, she said, “Public capex has increased manifold from ₹2 lakh crore in FY2014-15 to an allocation of ₹11.2 lakh crore in BE 2025-26. In FY2026-27, I propose to increase it to ₹12.2 lakh crore to continue the momentum.”
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said, “The Union Budget 2026 places infrastructure at the heart of India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047. With a clear focus on connectivity, manufacturing depth, and regional balance, the Budget outlines a decisive push to build world-class, future-ready infrastructure.”
The FM noted that over the past decade, the central government has undertaken several initiatives for large-scale enhancement of public infrastructure, including new financing instruments such as Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InVITs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and institutions like NIIF and NABFID. “We shall continue to focus on developing infrastructure in cities with over 5 lakh population (Tier II and Tier III), which have expanded to become growth centres,” she added.
REITs have emerged as a successful instrument for asset monetisation. To accelerate recycling of significant real estate assets of CPSEs, the FM proposed setting up dedicated REITs. To strengthen private developers’ confidence regarding risks during the infrastructure development and construction phase, the government also proposed establishing an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund to provide prudently calibrated partial credit guarantees to lenders.
A Scheme for Enhancement of Construction and Infrastructure Equipment (CIE) will be introduced to strengthen domestic manufacturing of high-value and technologically advanced CIE. This can range from lifts in multi-story apartments, fire-fighting equipment, large and small, to tunnel-boring machinery for building metros and high-altitude roads. Additionally, a scheme for Container Manufacturing will create a globally competitive container ecosystem, with a budgetary allocation of ₹10,000 crore over five years.
To promote environmentally sustainable cargo movement, Sitharaman proposed establishing new Dedicated Freight Corridors connecting Dankuni in the East to Surat in the West, and operationalising 20 new National Waterways (NW) over the next five years. It will start with NW-5 in Odisha, connecting mineral-rich areas of Talcher and Angul and industrial centres like Kalinga Nagar to the Ports of Paradeep and Dhamra. Training Institutes will be set up as Regional Centres of Excellence to develop the required manpower, benefiting youth along the entire stretch of the waterways. A ship repair ecosystem for inland waterways will also be established at Varanasi and Patna.
The Union Government will launch a Coastal Cargo Promotion Scheme to incentivise a modal shift from rail and road, aiming to increase the share of inland waterways and coastal shipping from 6% to 12% by 2047. To enhance last-mile and remote connectivity, and promote tourism, incentives will be provided to indigenise seaplane manufacturing. A Seaplane VGF Scheme will support operations.
To promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems, the government will develop seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities as ‘growth connectors’: i) Mumbai-Pune, ii) Pune-Hyderabad, iii) Hyderabad-Bengaluru, iv) Hyderabad-Chennai, v) Chennai-Bengaluru, vi) Delhi-Varanasi, and vii) Varanasi-Siliguri.
