Budget 2022: FM Sitharaman raises capex outlay by 35.4% to Rs 7.50 lakh cr

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced an increase of 35.4 per cent in the capital expenditure outlay for Union Budget 2022-23 to Rs 7.50 lakh crore.

The virtuous cycle of investment requires public investment to crowd-in private investment. However, at this stage, private investments seem to require that support to rise to their potential and to the needs of the economy. Public investment must continue to take the lead and pump-prime the private investment and demand in 2022-23, Sitharaman said during her Budget speech.

"Considering the above imperative, the outlay for capital expenditure in the Union Budget is once again being stepped up sharply by 35.4 per cent from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in the current year to Rs 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23," she said.

The finance minister said that the capital expenditure outlay has been increased to more than 2.2 times from 2019-20 and will be 2.9 per cent of GDP.

"With this investment taken together with the provision made for creation of capital assets through Grants-in-Aid to States, the 'effective capital expenditure' of the central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, which will be about 4.1 per cent of GDP," Sitharaman said.

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Also Read: Budget 2022: FM Sitharaman pegs FY22 fiscal deficit at 6.9%, FY23 target of 6.4%