Arun Jaitley maintains infrastructure spending tempo

Capital expenditure spending remains stagnant as per cent of GDP

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in his 2017-18 Budget speech last week a 25 per cent increase in the government’s capital expenditure over the 2016-17 Budget Estimates and nearly 11 per cent over the Revised Estimates (RE).

The government’s budgeted capital expenditure for 2017-18 is Rs 3.10 lakh crore, the highest for any financial year. However, as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices, capital expenditure will remain flat in comparison to the two preceding years.

For 2017-18, the budgeted capital expenditure is 1.84 per cent of the projected GDP of Rs 168.47 lakh crore. The