Upcoming Budget 2021 to Prioritise Infrastructure
The Modi government's next union budget is set to focus on infrastructure thrust in a bid to accelerate the economy and higher healthcare spends to fight covid-19. Finance Ministry may loosen its purse strings by as much 20% for infrastructure. The Finance ministry has kickstarted the budget-maki
Published -
Nov 10, 2020 4:15 AM
The Modi government's next union budget is set to focus on infrastructure thrust in a bid to accelerate the economy and higher healthcare spends to fight covid-19. Finance Ministry may loosen its purse strings by as much 20% for infrastructure. The Finance ministry has kickstarted the budget-making process and will soon invite stakeholder consultation as well. Modi government’s infrastructure commitment will be sustained for the next two years keeping in mind the upcoming G20 meet in 2022 that India will host and the 75th year of independence. The Finance ministry has already identified Rs 1.5 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline and is regularly monitoring the projects, asking states, infrastructure ministries to now open up tenders after the covid-19 related pause. The new projects for rail, road, housing, shipping, port, airports have been identified as a part of the Infrastructure Pipeline and states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, UP have been asked to expedite work. The Finance Ministry is also monitoring the Capex of CPSEs as well. The government budgeted for Rs 1.70 lakh crore for transport infrastructure in Budget 2020-21. India’s economy contracted by 23.9% in Q1 after the covid-19 induced lockdown. The Modi government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat package and demand-related measures have provided support for the poor in terms of free food, cash transfers, MSMEs yet the Finance ministry expects the year to end only with a near-zero GDP this year.
Tags : News/Views Infrastructure economy budget Transport GDP Govt Atmanirbhar