Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her fifth straight budget today. This was also last the full budget of Modi 2.0 govt before the next parliamentary elections in 2024.
The government on Wednesday in said that a capital outlay of 2.40 lakh crore has been provided for the Railways.
It is the highest ever outlay, which is about 9 times the outlay made in 2013-14.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the capital outlay was fixed for 2023-24.
The Economic Survey on January 31 has said that the next 10 years will see a very high level of capital expenditure in the railway sector as capacity growth has to be accelerated, so that by 2030 it is ahead of demand.
Up to 2014, capex on railway was barely Rs 45,980 crore per annum and consequently, the railway was charecterised by high levels of inefficiency and highly congested routes unable to meet the growing demand.
As more projects are taken on hand and several sources of capital funding are developed, capex will increase further in coming years and the railway system will actually emerge as an engine of national growth.
With inputs from Agencies.
