The forced capex gamble in Budget 2023
1 year, 10 months ago

The forced capex gamble in Budget 2023

New Indian Express  

The more important question is, where is the money for such large government expenditure coming from? The government cannot increase tax collections dramatically since its tax structure is already skewed, with a heavy burden on the common people to the benefit of corporates who have not reciprocated. The Economic Survey tells us that demand for NREGA work continues to be very high despite tags such as the ‘world’s fastest growing economy’. Essentially, the government has been caught in a quandary and forced to slash welfare expenditure to fund government investment since the private sector has delivered a double whammy of taking lower taxes and not investing. In essence, the government’s revenues and expenditure plan have gone awry, and it has been forced to take this big bet in the 2023–24 budget.

 tax  work  budget  gamble  expenditure  mgnrega  forced  worlds  whammy  whopping  capex  fund  welfare  2023

History of this topic

Industry needs to up R&D spend, expect govt capex growth to sustain: Ficci
1 week, 3 days ago

Industry needs to up R&D spend, expect govt capex growth to sustain: Ficci

Live Mint  

New Delhi: Businesses need to step up their research and development spending, and the industry expects the government to sustain the growth in budget allocation for capital expenditure as these two would help the Indian industry to become more competitive in global markets, Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and vice-chairman and managing …

Capex slowdown helps govt cut deficit by 6.6 per cent in Apr-Oct
3 weeks, 3 days ago

Capex slowdown helps govt cut deficit by 6.6 per cent in Apr-Oct

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: The slowing down of capital expenditure has helped the central government keep its books in order with fiscal deficit contracting by 6.6% in the first seven months of the current financial year, according to the data released by the government. The fiscal deficit during the period was Rs 7.5 lakh crore, which is 46.5% of the budget target …

Centre Could Miss Capex Target by Rs 70k Crore in FY25
3 weeks, 5 days ago

Centre Could Miss Capex Target by Rs 70k Crore in FY25

Deccan Chronicle  

Chennai: The Centre could miss the gross capex target for FY25 by Rs 70,000 crore mainly due to lower spending in defence, roads and highways, and railways in the first half. As per the revised budget estimate for FY25, the central government has set a gross capex target of Rs 11.1 lakh crore. This is 15.4 per cent down from …

Centre eyes 95% of undershot capex target for FY25: Ajay Seth
1 month ago

Centre eyes 95% of undershot capex target for FY25: Ajay Seth

Live Mint  

New Delhi: The government’s capital expenditure for FY2025 is projected to align closely with last year’s spending, at around 95% of the allocated target, though the target itself may be undershot, Ajay Seth, secretary of the department of economic affairs said on Wednesday. Last year, we spent 95% of the allotted capex, and this year it is likely to be …

Govt plans survey of lagging private capex
2 months, 4 weeks ago

Govt plans survey of lagging private capex

Hindustan Times  

The statistics ministry is planning to conduct a survey of private-sector capital investment going into the economy, which has been lagging government capex but is critical for growth and jobs in Asia’s third-largest economy, a senior official has said. Private sector investment has grown at a slower pace, outstripped by government fixed capital formation, a measure of public spending on …

FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Budget 2024: Union Budget strikes a fine balance between growth, employment, capital investment, and fiscal consolidation
4 months, 3 weeks ago

FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Budget 2024: Union Budget strikes a fine balance between growth, employment, capital investment, and fiscal consolidation

The Hindu  

Replying to the debate on the Union Budget in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday where more than 80 elders participated, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the transfer of resources to the States is going unhindered and the inferences that she mentioned just two States in the budget was a propaganda created by the INDIA bloc to mislead the people. Countering …

Lacklustre capex by PSUs is blunting government’s growth stimulus
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Lacklustre capex by PSUs is blunting government’s growth stimulus

Live Mint  

The Narendra Modi government’s strategy for supporting growth has been to increase capital expenditure through its budget in the hope that the infrastructure created would nudge the non-government sector to invest, creating new incomes. FY25 will be the fourth successive year in which more than half the growth in the total spending through the budget will be due to higher …

Interim Budget surprises fixed income market
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Interim Budget surprises fixed income market

New Indian Express  

It was expected to be a restricted vote on national accounts, but this interim budget, instead, surprised fixed income markets so much so that the yield of India’s benchmark 10-year government security fell by 9 bps. Firstly, in FY24, not only did India manage to achieve the highest economic growth on the back of heavy public capex, but it did …

A case of capex under the ‘macroscope’
10 months, 3 weeks ago

A case of capex under the ‘macroscope’

The Hindu  

India’s economic recovery in the early post COVID-19 pandemic phase was distinctly underscored by a strong performance in exports and domestic investments. The FY25 Interim Budget carries forward the ethos of public capex a notch higher, thereby bolstering the government’s commitment to high quality spending. The budgeted capex by the central government, an important metric for capacity creation in the …

Interim budget 2024-25: Capex raised to 3.4% of GDP despite fiscal consolidation
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Interim budget 2024-25: Capex raised to 3.4% of GDP despite fiscal consolidation

Hindustan Times  

The central government’s capital spending in 2024-25, according to the interim budget will be ₹11,11,111 crore, a number which is more like an auspicious figure than a hard-headed budgetary allocation. Read here: Interim budget 2024-25: Govt stays the course on fiscal consolidation path Fiscal numbers of the second Narendra Modi government speak for themselves. The share of capital spending in …

Interim Budget 2024: Overall spending likely to see 10% hike, says report
11 months, 1 week ago

Interim Budget 2024: Overall spending likely to see 10% hike, says report

India Today  

The upcoming interim budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 may witness a cautious approach from the government, with an anticipated 10 per cent increase in overall spending compared to the current fiscal year, reported The Economic Times. Despite the economy's robust growth, with a forecasted 7.3 per cent increase in Gross Domestic Product for the fiscal year 2023-24, the government …

Highways Ministry, Railways Achieve Around 40% Capital Expenditure Till July, Aim to Spend 90% by December
1 year, 4 months ago

Highways Ministry, Railways Achieve Around 40% Capital Expenditure Till July, Aim to Spend 90% by December

News 18  

With about eight assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in the next one year, the Union government is prioritising its spending. Of the Rs 5 lakh crore allocated to these ministries for the current financial year, the two have already spent Rs 2.06 lakh crore by July-end. According to a Railway Ministry official, by July-end, the national transporter …

Capex bet and a welfare miss: Story of Budget in nine charts
1 year, 10 months ago

Capex bet and a welfare miss: Story of Budget in nine charts

Live Mint  

In the last full-year Budget before the 2024 general elections, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her shortest speech, hitting all the right notes. HEARTY CAPEX In 2023-24, which is likely to see a global growth slowdown, the Centre has budgeted a record capital expenditure of ₹10 trillion, up nearly 37% from the revised estimate of the ongoing year. Meanwhile, following …

Welfare spending cut could pose significant livelihood challenges
1 year, 10 months ago

Welfare spending cut could pose significant livelihood challenges

Hindustan Times  

Since the 2021-22 Budget, the Union government has steadily pivoted from welfare spending to capital expenditure. In essence, welfare spending is now relegated to the margins, in the hope that investment in infrastructure will, to quote the finance minister, have a “large multiplier impact on growth and employment and ramp up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation.” From …

Great Budget for CapEx and Railways, Not Bad for Direct Taxes - News18
1 year, 10 months ago

Great Budget for CapEx and Railways, Not Bad for Direct Taxes - News18

News 18  

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her speech by calling Budget 2023 the first one in Amrit Kaal. Unfortunately, there were few takers for the new scheme because one could pay fewer taxes by using the various exemptions in the old scheme. There will be less complicated tax calculations involved in using the exemptions and actually lower tax liabilities just by …

Union Budget 2023-24: Aiming For A Fine Balance
1 year, 10 months ago

Union Budget 2023-24: Aiming For A Fine Balance

News 18  

The Indian economy has been recovering well from the pandemic. With this context, restricting GFD/GDP to around 5.8 per cent should be targeted and ensure the government remains committed to the target of reaching 4.5 per cent by FY2026. We see five key reasons for a limited space for a “populist” Budget — Lower tax revenue growth, given lower GDP …

Only a handful of large firms ready for big spending
2 years, 2 months ago

Only a handful of large firms ready for big spending

Live Mint  

MUMBAI : Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s expectation that private sector capital spending will power India’s economic growth appears to be wishful thinking as most companies, barring a handful of large conglomerates and state-run corporations, remain wary of new investments amid rising interest rates. Bankers said that the private capex cycle is quite uneven as large spending is mainly restricted to …

The Centre’s approach has eroded the very premise of MGNREGA
2 years, 10 months ago

The Centre’s approach has eroded the very premise of MGNREGA

The Hindu  

The disappointing allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the FY 2022-23 budget has created a buzz. However, what it does suggest is that the government had not revised its projections for the final quarter of this FY even while it announced supplementary grants worth ₹25,000 crore for MGNREGA in December 2021. However, according to the …

Greater capital expenditure is the highlight of the Budget
2 years, 10 months ago

Greater capital expenditure is the highlight of the Budget

The Hindu  

This Budget has made some very effective announcements to accelerate growth as we come out of a prolonged pandemic which has weighed on growth significantly. Here are some takeaways: Capex and deficits For FY22, the revised estimate for capex stood at ₹6 trillion, but excluding the one-time Air India charge, it would have been closer to ₹5.5 trillion. In terms …

Capex hike to social sector cuts: The story of Budget 2022, in nine charts
2 years, 10 months ago

Capex hike to social sector cuts: The story of Budget 2022, in nine charts

Live Mint  

An aggressive focus on government spending led on the capital side was the big theme of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's second pandemic budget. We explore Budget 2022 in nine charts: Dissecting the capex For an economy emerging out of a pandemic, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was expected to ramp up the capital expenditure markedly. Welfare cuts Unlike last year, Sitharaman …

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