Nurturing capex

With foreign investments declining, it is necessary to maintain growth in government capital expenditure

Last week, the Union government announced several new projects and schemes, whose total cost is estimated at Rs 1.2 trillion. Deploying over 10,000 electric buses across 169 cities in the country, ramping up the Indian Railways’ freight-carrying capacity by executing seven multi-tracking projects covering 35 districts in nine states, expanding the Digital India footprint, and rolling out the Vishwakarma scheme for financial assistance to artisans and craftspeople were the key proposals that received the Union Cabinet’s approval on August 16.

Of course, not all the expenditure on these projects would be an additional burden on the Central exchequer during the current