Economists urge FM to push capex pedal

India’s leading economists are learnt to have urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to keep ‘pushing the pedal’ on capital expenditure in the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27, even if that entails slower progress on fiscal consolidation in light of the global geopolitical situation.

- RUCHIKA CHITRAVANSHI & SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

This was among the key suggestions made by economists in pre-Budget consultations held by the Finance Ministry on Monday under the stewardship of Minister Sitharaman.

Among the economists who attended the pre-budget consultations included part-time members of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Sajid Chinoy and Neelkanth Mishra, Thirteenth Finance Commission member Indira Rajaraman, Crisil chief economist Dharmakirti Joshi; Nomura chief economist Sonal Varma, Morgan Stanley India Managing Director Ridham Desai, Centre for Development Studies director C Veeramani, and Lekha Chakraborty, professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Ashwini Mahajan, national co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, as well as Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, were also present at the interaction.