Mega connectivity push: Railways, highways continue to be primary drivers, take 47% of capex | Business News

Sitharaman announced seven high-speed rail corridors and one East-West dedicated freight corridor. This will give a major boost to Railways’ push for the Bullet train project and initiative to increase its model freight share viz-a-viz road. India is currently developing its first high-speed rail corridor, the bullet train project, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, where over 55% physical progress was achieved as of October 2025.

While there was no direct announcement related to the National Highways, a scheme for enhancement of Construction and Infrastructure Equipment (CIE) has been proposed, which will strengthen the domestic manufacturing of high-value and technologically-advanced construction equipment. Highways Ministry officials said such equipment can range from lifts in a multi-story apartment, fire-fighting equipment, large and small, to tunnel-boring equipment for building metros and high-altitude roads.

A major shift in India’s infrastructure investment came after the government began increasing the capex budget. Between FY19 and FY22, capex increased by 92% — from Rs 3.07 lakh crore to Rs 5.92 lakh crore. This momentum sustained over the years, with the capex outlay for FY26 increasing to Rs 11.21 lakh crore, in which the share of Road Transport and Highways, and Railways was 5.24 lakh crore. The overall capex for FY26 has been revised downward to Rs 10.96 lakh crore.

In FY25, the total capex for road transport and highways was Rs 2.85 lakh crore. The figure was Rs 2.52 lakh crore for Railways. The overall capex by the Centre was Rs 10.52 lakh crore during the period. The growth-enhancing capital expenditure on infrastructure has high multiplier effects on the economy.

According to the Economic Survey for 2025-26, for every rupee spent on creating infrastructure, GDP increases by Rs 2.5 to Rs 3.5.

“Infrastructure continues to be central to India’s growth strategy, with public capital expenditure following a sustained upward trajectory since FY15 and gaining further momentum in recent years. Large-scale investments across roads, railways, ports, power, aviation and digital infrastructure have strengthened connectivity, expanded capacity and improved logistics efficiency, generating strong multiplier effects for growth and productivity,” the survey said.

With this capex push, the length of the National Highway has increased by 61% from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1.46 lakh km as of now. Similarly, the length of National High-Speed Corridors has expanded from 93 km in 2014 to 3052 km at present.

Similarly, the capital outlay in Railways is being spent in new lines, doubling and multi-tracking, rolling stock augmentation, signaling, and safety-related works. As of March 2025, the rail network has expanded to 69,439 route km. During FY26, it is targeted to extend the network further by 3,500 km. The average commissioning of railway network per year has more than doubled from 1,499 km during 2004-14 to 3,118 km in 2014-24.