Image Source : INDIA TV Union Budget 2025: What to expect for infrastructure in upcoming budget? Know anticipated capital outlay
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget for the next fiscal year 2025-26 on February 1. The budget this year will be the first in the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As expectations continue to mount, it is being anticipated as to what will come out of the budget for various sectors. Similar is the case with the infrastructure budget.
PM Modi has envisaged the dream of “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India) till 2024 and to make it a reality extensive efforts would be required in infrastructure development. In last year’s budget, Sitharaman outlined 9 priorities to make India develop which also included infrastructure.
Capital outlay for infrastructure in last budgets
In the budget 2024, the Central government announced a capital outlay of Rs 11,11,111 crore (Rs 11.11 lakh crore), which was 3.4 per cent of the GDP. The outlay was 11 per cent higher than what was announced in the previous budget (2023).
In 2023, the Centra allocated Rs 10 lakh as capital outlay for infrastructure. At that time, it was 3.3 per cent of the GDP.
Expected Capital outlay this year
Recently, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the government’s infra budget should be Rs 15 lakh crore for the next 25 years to achieve the Viksit Bharat target by 2047. He outlined the Modi government’s efforts stating that in 2012 the infra-investment budget was Rs 1.2 lakh crore which was raised to Rs 2.4 lakh crore in 2014 and it was pegged at Rs 11.11 lakh crore in 2024.
Following the trend of giant leaps, it is highly anticipated that the government is likely to up the infra budget by a minimum of 12 per cent YoY, taking the capital outlay to at least Rs 12.5 lakh crore.
PMGSY, Highways development to get push
Regarding the announcement of Phase IV of PM Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) in last year’s budget, the government may make additional announcements to augment the stretch which was 25,000 villages last time.
Meanwhile, the government has also envisaged reducing the logistics cost in India to single digits in two years. Following that, the budget may also see the announcement of additional highways. Besides, a major focus can also be laid on the shipbuilding industry as reportedly, the deliberations are underway.
