Similar to what was proposed in the interim budget earlier this year, the Union Budget 2024-25 has allocated Rs 11,11,111 crore for the capital expenditure outlay. The allocation for three major ministries — Defence (Rs 6.21 lakh crore), Road Transport and Highway (Rs 2.78 lakh crore), and Railways (Rs 2.55 lakh crore) remains unchanged too.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that the outlay for 2024 is 3.4% of the GDP. “This year, I have provided Rs 11,11,111 crore for capital expenditure. This would be 3.4% of our GDP,” she said.
She did not announce any new projects under Railways, but mentioned two new expressways for Bihar — Patna-Purnia and Buxar-Bhagalpur expressways. The minister said a total of Rs 26,000 crore is allocated for roads in Bihar, including a new bridge on River Ganga in Buxar.
Out of the Rs 2.78 lakh crore allocated to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Rs 2.72 lakh crore is capital expenditure and Rs 5,758 crore is from revenue. Similarly, out of the Rs 2.55 lakh crore for Railways Ministry, Rs 2.52 lakh crore is from capital and Rs 3,393 crore from revenue.
“The total net allocation for the demand in BE 2024-25 is Rs 2,84,000 crore (Rs 2,78,000 crore plus Rs 6,000 crore). The additional Rs 6,000 crore in BE 2024-25 is to be met from the balances from Central Road and Infrastructure Fund for financing the road works,” the budget document read.
Around Rs 40 crore, from the Nirbhaya Fund, is earmarked for the safety of women on public road transport. The National Highways Authority of India has been granted Rs 1.68 lakh crore.
For Railways, reimbursement of losses on operation of strategic lines has been kept at Rs 2,648 crore in Budget Estimate 2024-25 as against Rs 2,491.84 crore in RE 2023-24. An amount of Rs 745 crore has been provided in BE 2024-25 towards debt servicing of market borrowings for national projects, the documents added.
“The total outlay provided for Capital Expenditure in Budget Estimate 2024-25 of Rs 2,65,200 crore includes Rs 2,52,000 crore from General Revenues, Rs 200 crore from Nirbhaya Fund Rs 3,000 crore from Internal Resource and Rs 10,000 crore from Extra Budgetary Resources. Total Receipt of Railways comprising revenues from passenger, goods, other coaching, sundry other heads and Railway Recruitment Boards etc. have been placed at Rs 2,78,500 crore in BE 2024-25…,” it added.
Sitharaman while speaking about the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, promised essential infrastructure such as water, power, railways and roads in Kopparthy node on the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and Orvakal node on Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.
In 2023, when the Finance Minister presented the Union Budget for 2023-24, the capital expenditure (capex) target was increased by 33% to Rs 10 lakh crore, that was 3.3% of the GDP. Before that, in 2022, the Finance Minister raised capital expenditure by 35.4% for the financial year 2022-23 to Rs 7.5 lakh crore.
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