Union Budget 2019: Government proposes Rs 100 lakh crore infra investment

In her maiden budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Rs 100 lakh crore would be invested into the infrastructure sector over the next five years while highlighting the need for public-private partnerships to ensure delivery of projects.

After a populist pre-election interim budget tabled in February, the first Union Budget of the Modi 2.0 government was expected to address concerns over the country’s growth – and as always, all eyes were on the proposed outlay for infrastructure.

The key announcements are:

The second phase of the Bharatmala road project will now integrate state government participation to develop the road network.

Use of rivers for cargo transportation to decongest roads and railways.

The continued thrust on metro lines, of which 657 km are currently operational.

The finance minister announced that about 1.25 lakh km of road length will be upgraded over the next 5 years, at a cost of over Rs 80,000 crore.

While full details of the outlay on each of these programmes were not disclosed in the speech, they featured prominently at the beginning of the budget speech.

The finance minister also made big announcements related to the funding of these ambitious infrastructure projects, which include the roads and infra cess, which has been increased by Re 1 per litre of petrol and diesel purchased.

Additionally, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) will be able to invest in Infrastructure Investment Trusts or InvITs, Sitharaman said.

The government is also looking to implement a 'One Nation, One Power' grid in the power sector, to ensure power connectivity to states at affordable rates.

A package for power sector tariff and structural reforms to the sector will also be unveiled soon, the finance minister said.

All in all, while the exact amount allocated to the infrastructure projects is yet to be announced, it looks like infrastructure has a big part to play in the growth of the Indian economy.