Budget cautious, forgetful of the past, reform express stuck: Chidambaram in Rajya Sabha

Initiating the discussion on the Union Budget 2026-2027 in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said at a time when public, private and foreign investors were “not investing” in India, the government had cut capital expenditure in 2025-2026 by Rs 1.44 lakh crore.

Budget cautious, forgetful of the past, reform express stuck: Chidambaram in RS

Congress MP P Chidambaram in Rajya Sabha on Monday. (PTI)

3 min readNew DelhiFeb 10, 2026 06:29 AM IST First published on: Feb 10, 2026 at 06:29 AM IST

FORMER FINANCE Minister and Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha on Monday said the Union Budget 2026-2027 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was “cautious”, “parsimonious” and “forgettable”.

Initiating the discussion on the Union Budget 2026-2027 in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said at a time when public, private and foreign investors were “not investing” in India, the government had cut capital expenditure in 2025-2026 by Rs 1.44 lakh crore.

He asked whether the government and key ministers had read the Economic Survey, which, he said, had raised the challenges of capital investment, unemployment, slow fiscal consolidation and slow growth rate.

On capital investment, he said gross capital formation was stuck at 30% of GDP for nearly 12 years; the net FDI in 2024-25 had collapsed to 0.09%; and private investment was 22% of the GDP.

Speaking on the Finance Minister’s statement that the “reform express” was well on its way, the Congress leader said: “The Reform Express is stuck. It is not derailed yet, but it’s stuck.” He said the nominal growth rate was 12% in 2023-2024 and went down to 9.8% in 2024-2025 and 8% in 2025-2026.

On fiscal consolidation, Chidambaram said at the current rate it would take 12 years to achieve the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) target of 3% fiscal deficit to GDP ratio.

“I am afraid this Budget is cautious, parsimonious, forgetful of the past year and this will vanish. It has already vanished from the newspapers. Another minister, another deal is occupying the front pages…This is a forgettable Budget,” he said.

Other Opposition MPs hit out at the government for allegedly discriminating against their states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

TMC MP Sushmita Dev said this was the sixth Budget without a Census, referring to the delayed Census of 2021. DMK MP P Wilson said the states that do not vote for the BJP are being punished. He said Tamil Nadu was the “best performer” among states, but said the Budget did not have anything for the state. To this, the Finance Minister interjected, saying it was an incorrect statement and listed out the schemes that that state would benefit from, including the Coconut Promotion Scheme.

AAP MP Raghav Chadha suggested the government legalise virtual digital assets, a new blockchain-based land registry and zero long-term capital gains tax on equities.

CPI(M) MP A A Rahim said the youth were “haunted by three nightmares — EMIs, CIBIL scores and targets”. He said the youth were facing immense hardship in the unorganised sector. Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Budget was anti-farm and anti-farming. He said schemes announced last year, including missions for pulses, vegetables and fruits, and cotton, had no spending and no allocation this year.

Surjewala said Rs 1.17 lakh crore of the agriculture budget had been surrendered by the Ministry from 2018-2019 to 2023-2024. “This is a surrender sarkar,” he said.

BJP MP Arun Singh said the India-US trade deal would benefit the small and medium enterprises. He added that there would be a “current account surplus” in the next few years.

The discussion will continue on Tuesday.