An end-of-year spending has helped the center achieve its revised capital objective of 10.18 Lakh crores for the 2024-25 financial year, senior government officials told senior.
The previous exercise had started at a cautious pace, because the disadvantages were affected by the model conduct code which was put in place during the Lok Sabha elections. Capital expenditure took a significant momentum only in the second half of the financial year.
Sources indicate that the center may have ended the exercise with Capex above the revised target. The budget estimate for the CAPE 2024-25 was set at Rs 11.11 Lakh initially crosses, it was revised later.
This recalibration is accompanied by a target of a sharper budget deficit of 4.8% of GDP, against 4.9% of last year. The government is targeting an even lower deficit of 4.4% during the current financial year.
During the first 11 months of the 2024-25 fiscal year, the center had only spent 8.12 Lakh crosses in Capex, which meant that the spending in March would have been higher than RS 2 Lakh crosses.
By asking if the government would reduce its objective of exercise 26 due to the world’s opposite winds, the official shared that investment is a large internal growth engine and it is unlikely that the world situation is impacted by the world situation. Consequently, the government is likely to remain on its target of 11.21 Lakh crores for the CAPEX FY26.
