Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026-27 on Sunday, 1 February, against the backdrop of renewed geoeconomic disruptions affecting India. With these pressures likely to spill into the coming fiscal year, the Budget 2026 offers a window into how the Centre plans to respond to pressing challenges. In this five-part series, we use charts to examine the Budget 2026’s response to these pressures across 15 key concerns.
This part looks at roads, power, and railways. Each topic has a pair of charts—one presenting the context the budget faced and the other showing what the budget delivered.
Roads: Quality over quantity?
Speedy highway construction has been the centrepiece of the Narendra Modi government’s infrastructure-driven growth model. However, in recent years, the pace of national highways' construction has declined from a peak of 36.5 kilometres per day in 2020-21 to 17.1km per day in 2025-26. The declining pace of highway construction may also indicate a shift towards consolidation, reflecting a lesser need for more expansion after a rapid pace. Though the government is also planning a sequel to the Golden Quadrilateral network of national highways, introducing high-speed expressways linking India’s major economic centres.
The discom dilemma
Electricity distribution companies (discoms) have remained under pressure due to mounting debt, tariff gaps, and operational inefficiencies. Their accumulated deficit has widened from about ₹4.1 trillion in 2016-17 to nearly ₹6.9 trillion in 2023-24, reflecting persistent financial stress driven by high technical and commercial losses, delayed tariff revisions, and growing subsidy burdens. The policy response has gradually shifted from periodic bailouts to reform-linked support, with a significant portion of budgetary allocation routed through the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme. This aims to promote smart metering, reduce losses, and address structural inefficiencies, enhancing the sector’s long-term financial sustainability.
Securing the rails
Indian Railways has remained a key focus of infrastructure spending in the budget. However, safety has taken centre stage in recent years, especially after the 2023 Balasore collision that claimed around 350 lives. Investments have been directed towards track renewals, signalling upgrades, rolling stock maintenance and the rollout of the indigenous Kavach automatic train protection system. Yet, spending on safety has remained largely stagnant at about 20% of total railway expenditure, raising concerns over whether allocations are keeping pace with the growing network and passenger volumes.