New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced a Rs.5,000 crore fund to develop city economic regions (CERs) in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and temple towns, alongside the commissioning of seven high-speed intercity rail corridors as "growth connectors."

Delivering her ninth budget speech for 2026-27, Sitharaman identified the development of CERs and infrastructure as one of six priority areas of intervention. The urban push includes a Rs.100 crore incentive for municipal bonds issued over Rs.1,000 crore and the high-speed intercity rail networks that will link Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi, and Varanasi-Siliguri.

Sitharaman identif...