NEW DELHI: Initiating a discussion on Budget 2026-27 in the Rajya Sabha on Monday Congress’ P Chidambaram attacked govt for cutting capital expenditure in 2025-26.“This is a forgettable budget… which has been prepared by a finance minister who forgot the promises made by her in this House last year,” the former finance minister said.Chidambaram pointed out that the nominal growth rate in 2023-2024 was 12%, but reduced to 9.8% in the past fiscal year.“For almost 12 years, capital investment, gross fixed capital formation, has been stuck at 30% of GDP. Net FDI in 2024-25 collapsed to less than 0.09%. foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are pulling out. Private investment, although the companies are cash rich, is stuck at 22% of the GDP,” Chidambaram said.“Where is the reform express gathering momentum,” he questioned.
