States' capital budgets: Spending, classification can be variable exercise

Most of the other major states, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Telangana and Haryana, hew close to either extreme

States have begun to put serious money in their capital budgets but how much of that money is new and where does the spending go? India Ratings & Research data shows for FY24 nine major state governments plan to spend close to 26 per cent more than what they spent in FY23. As absolute numbers, these are big sums and bear examination. 

An analysis of the state budgets by Business Standard shows a large part of those capex numbers in key states are meant for construction of buildings. These are mostly for hospitals, schools or training institutions, particularly in eastern states.