Everybody's a winner in this infra race

The good news is that capex outlay proposed for FY25 is up 17%, at ₹11.11 trillion, but the details are not as exciting

- Dipti Sharma & Harsha Jethmalani

Ahead of the upcoming general election, expectations from the interim budget for FY25 were not high, but policy continuity, especially on infrastructure spending, was critical. After all, this theme has been a key sentiment driver for investors in shares of infra companies. 

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has not offered them much to cheer. But the good news is that the capital expenditure outlay proposed for FY25 is up 17%, at ₹11.11 trillion. The details are not as exciting, though.

The allocation for railways at ₹2.5 trillion is only marginally higher than ₹2.4 trillion (revised estimate FY 2023-24). The finance minister has proposed implementation of three major economic railway corridor programmes–energy, mineral and cement corridors; port connectivity corridors; and high traffic density corridors.