Union Budget: Thankful to PM Modi and FM Sitharaman for supporting Indian Railways, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Vaishnaw told ANI, "I am very thankful to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister for supporting the growth of railways. The capital expenditure for railways is huge, 2.52 lakh crore Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) and this is something which was really needed. As you are aware, the railway has been expanding its network, getting better types of trains and simultaneously focusing on safety..."

"If you look at the overall new projects, about 100 new Amrit Bharat trains will be manufactured as a part of this budgetary exercise. 50 Namo Bharat trains will be manufactured and about 200 Vande Bharat trains including the sleeper and chair car versions will be manufactured..., " he added.

He further said, "If you look at the budget for Electronics and IT, one major announcement which has happened is the announcement regarding components. The finished products are already manufactured in India. Now with the component manufacturing coming in, the entire electronics manufacturing will get a very big boost. Customs-related simplifications have been announced and simultaneously provisions related to permanent establishment, and provisions related to the storage of electronic components, all have been announced in the budget. I thank the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister for giving such a big boost to the electronics and IT sector."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has allocated Rs 11.21 lakh crore for capital expenditure in the Union budget for 2025-26.

This marks a 0.9 per cent increase over last year's Budget Estimate of Rs 11.11 lakh crore, but if compared with the revised estimate of 2024-25 at Rs 10.18 lakh crore, the budget estimate of 2025-26 is substantially higher.

A capital expenditure, or capex, is used to set up long-term physical or fixed assets.

The defence sector capital expenditure has got the biggest hike of 4.6 per cent for the financial year 2025-26 at Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

In 2024-25 (budget estimate), it was Rs 1.72 lakh crore, which was later downwardly revised to Rs 1.59 lakh crore.

The defence sector capex target for 2025-26 is 13.3 per cent higher if compared with the revised estimate of 2024-25.

India's defence sector is being pushed for substantial and sustained growth, driven by increasing capital expenditure. Key factors underpinning this growth include rapidly expanding defence exports and a significant emphasis on domestic manufacturing.

Over the past decade, the government has successfully implemented a paradigm shift in policy, procedures, and mindset to accelerate the growth of domestic defence manufacturing.

The government has introduced multiple policy measures and reforms to foster indigenous design, development, and production of defence equipment, thereby advancing self-reliance in defence manufacturing.

Significant investments are being made in defence and aerospace manufacturing, with the establishment of several defence hubs. Moreover, many global companies have already shared, or shown a willingness to share, critical defence and aerospace expertise with India.

India's defence exports reached a record Rs 21,083 crore (approximately USD 2.63 billion) in the financial year 2023-24, marking a 32.5 per cent increase from Rs 15,920 crore in the previous fiscal year.

Notably, defence exports have grown 31-fold over the past decade compared to 2013-14. The total value of defence production in India also increased by 17 per cent to Rs 126,887 crore in the last fiscal year.

Moving on to railways and roads, both critical for the Indian economy, the capex target for 2025-26 has been unexpectedly kept unchanged, the budget documents tabled today showed.

But the Capital outlay for Railways and Roads are same as last year. Railways capex at Rs 2.52 lakh crore for the next fiscal is the same as it was for 2024-25.

Similarly, capital outlay for Roads is also maintained at Rs 2.72 lakh crore same as BE and RE of last fiscal 2024-25.