Building on the massive tripling of the capital expenditure outlay in the past four years, which has resulted in a huge multiplier effect on economic growth and employment creation, the Central government has now increased the outlay for the next financial year by 11.1% to Rs 11,11,111 crore.
This would be 3.4 percent of the GDP, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated in the interim budget speech.
About Rs 2.78 lakh crore has been allocated to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, while another Rs 2.55 lakh crore has been earmarked for the Ministry of Railways.
The development is likely to further give an impetus to infrastructure development in the country, thereby acting as a demand booster for the commercial vehicle and construction equipment industry.
The minister, in her speech, highlighted three major economic railway corridor programmes that will be implemented. These include energy, mineral, and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors, and high-traffic density corridors.
She added that these projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. "They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce costs," Sitharaman said in her speech.
"Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate our GDP growth and reduce logistic costs," she added.
Moreover, forty thousand normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance the safety, convenience, and comfort of passengers.