With a motive of promoting private and public investments in the country, the finance minister emphasised that in the face of uncertainty caused by the pandemic, it was essential that public investment continue to lead the wagon and help in pushing flat private investment levels and demand in the coming financial year.

To this effect, the outlay for capital expenditure in this budget has been significantly stepped up by over 35.4 per cent from INR 5.54 lakh crore in the current year to INR 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23. This amounts to an increase of more than 2.2 times the expenditure incurred in 2019-20 while this outlay for 2022-23 constitute about 2.9 per cent of the country’s GDP. This announcement reflects the government’s aim of accelerating the virtuous cycle of investments and growth especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. 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 union government is expected to stand at a staggering INR 10.68 lakh crore in the upcoming financial year representing about 4.1 per cent of India’s GDP.

Furthermore, the minister gave an account of the government’s overall market borrowings in 2022-23 and mentioned that the government plans to issue sovereign Green Bonds for mobilizing crucial resources for green infrastructure. The proceeds from these bonds will  also be deployed in public sector projects, thereby contributing towards decarbonising of the economy.