
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking at the CII GCC Business Summit in Visakhapatnam, highlighted India’s massive infrastructure and capital investment push. She revealed that capital investment has doubled from 1.7% of GDP in 2013–14 to 3.2% in 2024–25, with effective capex reaching 4.1% of GDP. Over the past decade, India has operationalized 88 new airports, laid 31,000 km of rail tracks, doubled port capacity, expanded metro networks, and extended the national highway network by 60%. States have also benefited from ₹3.6 lakh crore in 50-year interest-free central assistance, boosting their own capex growth. Sitharaman also underlined reforms under Digital India, including SPICE+ for company incorporation and CPACE for faster corporate exits.