Interim Budget 2024-25: 'Staying with capex, infrastructure thrust'

The Interim Budget comes at a time when India stands as a bright spot despite unprecedented global challenges. Over the last decade, the government has constantly taken up reforms and initiatives to strengthen the building blocks of the economy. India’s resilience is an outcome of careful planning, targeted facilitation and visionary leadership. This Budget continues with the same clarity, vision and focus.

Creating holistic infrastructure has been of utmost importance, as it ensures comprehensive and interconnected systems, fostering efficiency, sustainability and resilience in various sectors. Continuing the government’s thrust on capital spending, much in line with the CII recommendation, the Budget reflected a 11.1 per cent increase in capital outlay to Rs 11.11 trillion. This comes out to be around 3.4 per cent of the GDP as per 2024-25 (BE), the highest in a decade, as compared to 3.3 per cent of GDP budgeted in 2023-24 and 2.9 per cent as per the actuals in 2022-23. 

To further strengthen the focus on infrastructure, the announcement to launch a scheme to help those living in rented houses, slums or chawls to buy and build their own houses, along with building of some 20 million additional houses under PM Awas Yojana Gramin Awas Yojana in the next five years, is a much-required push for the development of rural India.

Further, we believe the emphasis on research and innovation through a corpus of Rs 1 trillion with 50-year interest-free loans is a big positive for the industry. 

The Interim Budget provides a good roadmap to the full Budget expected in July, along with an overarching vision towards a developed India by 2047.

R Dinesh is President, Confederation of Indian Industry, and Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions Ltd