New Delhi, Feb 9 Pointing out that youth joblessness stands at 15 per cent in India, with less than 25 per cent of the workforce in regular employment, Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram launched a sharp attack on the Union Budget 2026-27 in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, describing it as cautious, parsimonious, forgettable, and already vanishing from public memory.
Speaking on the discussions in the upper house of the Parliament, he questioned whether the government and its key ministers even read the 700-plus-page Economic Survey, suggesting they prefer to ignore its sobering realities.
Chidambaram highlighted three major challenges outlined in the Economic Survey -- capital investment, unemployment, and slow growth -- accusing the government of failing to address them effectively.
He pointed out that gross fixed capital formation remains stuck at 30 per cent of GDP, net FDI has collapsed to less than 0.09 per cent in 2024-25, and private investment lingers at 22 per cent despite cash-rich companies.
He criticised the government for cutting capital expenditure by Rs .44 lakh crore in 2025-26 without explanation, while neither the public, private, nor foreign sectors show meaningful investment.
On unemployment, Chidambaram said youth joblessness stands at 15 per cent, with less than 25 per cent of the workforce in regular employment.
He noted a shift toward self-employment and agriculture, and that only 1.95 crore people work in factories in a nation of 144 crore. Manufacturing has stagnated at 16 per cent of GDP for years.
He slammed the PM Internship Scheme as a failure, with only 33,000 of 1.65 lakh offers accepted and just 6,000 retained, demanding the Finance Minister explain the collapse.
Chidambaram accused the Budget of being forgetful, with low or unannounced outlays for announced schemes and cuts in defence, science, social welfare, and urban development. He called it prepared by a Finance Minister who had forgotten her own promises from last year.
On growth, he mocked the government's "Reform Express" as stuck, not derailed, with nominal GDP growth falling from 12 per cent in 2023-24 to 9.8 per cent in 2024-25 and 8 per cent in 2025-26. He questioned inflated real GDP figures, citing low CPI inflation, negative wholesale inflation, and a 0.5 per cent deflator, and criticised the slow fiscal consolidation, with fiscal deficit dropping only marginally from 4.4 per cent to 4.3 per cent and revenue deficit stuck at 1.5 per cent.
He argued the Budget was saved not by higher revenue but by expenditure cuts of Rs 1 lakh crore and a Rs 3 lakh crore RBI dividend.
Chidambaram concluded that the Budget lacks vision, fails to confront real challenges, and will soon be forgotten amid new headlines.
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