Infra spotlight: Little help from govt rejig of plan, non-plan expenditure

Despite wanting to, the government has managed to spend very little on capital account

In the din over demonetisation and how it has been treated in this Budget, is lost a major change, introduced from this year. For years, successive finance ministers have been criticised for not spending enough on capital account, when compared to revenue account. In other words, the government spends for itself, instead of for the economy. 
 
This year, the Narendra Modi government had decided to tackle the argument head on. It has written in a projected spend of Rs 3,09,801 crore on capital account or more generally as investment in 2017-18. It is Rs 2,79,847 crore for the Revised Estimate