Public capex focus shifts to real outcomes from scale

India’s policymakers are increasingly shifting focus from expanding the size of public capital expenditure (capex) to improving its quality and impact, including the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tools to monitor progress, two people aware of the matter said.

- Rhik Kundu & Subhash Narayan

The government is emphasizing project execution, transparency and measurable economic outcomes to ensure that investments translate into real gains such as durable assets, private-sector participation and productivity improvements rather than mere higher budgetary allocations, the people said. To this extent, greater due diligence and closer scrutiny of projects are now central to improving execution.