For states, balancing fiscal maths and capex will be challenging: CRISIL

For states, balancing the fiscal math while continuing to spend on infrastructure capital expenditure (capex) will be challenging, said Sameer Bhatia, president of Infrastructure Advisory at CRISIL.

The rating agency — in its Infrastructure Yearbook 2019, released on Tuesday — said most of the sub-sectors in infrastructure have shown stress this year, compared to the previous year. The report also said states need to spend over Rs 100 trillion over a decade on capex.

On the biggest obstacle in achieving this, Bhatia told Business Standard, “Given the diversity of states in India, a one-size-fits-all solution is unlikely to work. Each state may have different degree of constraints to overcome. Having said that, balancing the fiscal while continuing the spend on infra capex would perhaps be the most challenging constraint for the states.”

He said mid-level states such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala would be leaders in capex spending.