Continuing its focus on infrastructure development, The Union Budget for the next financial year, beginning April 2023, has proposed to raise capital expenditure—for the third consecutive year—by 33 per cent to ₹10 lakh crore, which is 3.3 per cent of the GDP.
Furthermore, to reinforce the importance of infrastructure, the government has included ‘Infrastructure and Investment‘ as one of the seven priorities, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Budget for FY24 on Tuesday said acts as “Saptarishi guiding through the Amrit Kaal.”
Investments in Infrastructure and productive capacity have a large multiplier impact on growth and employment. After the subdued period of the pandemic, private investments are growing again. The Budget takes the lead once again to ramp up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation, she said while presenting the budget in Parliament.
“Capital investment outlay is being increased steeply for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to ₹10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 per cent of GDP. This will be almost three times the outlay in FY20. This substantial increase in recent years is central to the government’s efforts to enhance growth potential and job creation, crowd-in private investments, and provide a cushion against global headwinds,” Sitharaman said.
Also read: Budget 2023: FM Nirmala Sitharaman presents Union Budget 2023-24; here are all you need to know
Welcoming the development, REPL CMD Pradeep Misra said “The capital investment outlay of ₹10 lakh crore coupled with the 50-year interest-free loan to states increased to ₹1.3 lakh crore is going to have a spiral effect. The challenge for the Finance Minister will be to keep the fiscal deficit in check. This time the emphasis on MSME has also been put which is absolutely critical for the Indian industry, in order to get into the circle of top three world economy.”
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