In a blistering attack during Rajya Sabha discussions on Monday, senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram dismissed the central Budget 2026-27 as utterly forgettable, destined to vanish from public memory soon. He spotlighted the alarming 15% unemployment rate among India’s youth, with less than 25% of the workforce enjoying regular jobs.
Chidambaram questioned whether the government and its key ministers even bother reading the 700-page Economic Survey or deliberately ignore its harsh realities. Citing the survey’s three major challenges—capital investment, unemployment, and sluggish growth—he accused the administration of complete failure in addressing them.
Gross fixed capital formation remains stuck at 30% of GDP, while net FDI in 2024-25 plummeted below 0.09%. Despite companies sitting on ample cash, private investment hovers around a dismal 22%. He grilled the government over a Rs 44,000 crore slash in capital expenditure for 2025-26 without any explanation, noting no solid investment signals from public, private, or foreign sectors.
On unemployment, Chidambaram painted a grim picture: youth joblessness at 15%, regular employment for under 25% of the workforce, employment shifting towards self-reliance and agriculture. In a nation of 1.44 billion, only 19.5 million work in factories, with manufacturing stagnant at 16% of GDP for years.
He branded the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme a total flop, with just 33,000 of 1.65 lakh proposals accepted and only 6,000 interns sticking around. Demanding answers from the Finance Minister, he called the Budget a ‘forgettable’ one, riddled with meager allocations or outright absences for key schemes. Cuts in defense, science, social welfare, and urban development budgets drew sharp criticism.
Mocking the government’s ‘reform express’ as derailed and stalled, Chidambaram highlighted nominal GDP growth dropping from 12% in 2023-24 to 9.8% in 2024-25 and 8% in 2025-26. He questioned real GDP figures amid low consumer inflation, negative wholesale inflation, and a 0.5% deflator. Fiscal deficit inched down marginally from 4.4% to 4.3%, with revenue deficit frozen at 1.5%.
The Budget, he argued, wasn’t salvaged by higher revenues but by slashing Rs 1 lakh crore in spending and relying on Rs 3 lakh crore RBI dividend. Lacking vision and ignoring real challenges, this Budget will soon fade into obscurity amid fresh headlines, Chidambaram concluded.