The capital expenditure goal for 2023-24 that the Centre has set for itself is Rs 10 lakh crore, which is a 33 percent increase over the budget projection for 2022-23, which was Rs 7.5 lakh crore. It is impossible to dispute the fact that the government is placing an emphasis on capex in order to stimulate economic development. The most important thing, though, is getting the private investment cycle back on track. The question that has to be answered for the private sector is which comes first: the chicken or the egg. When capacity utilization reaches around 80 percent or more and there is an expectation that demand will continue to rise, investments are made. The private sector in India has been waiting on the sidelines, which led the finance minister to publicly question the industry a few months ago about why they weren't investing in light of the fact that it is anticipated that India's GDP growth will slow down in the fiscal year 2023-24 and that global growth will also likely slow down, which will have an impact on India's exports.
A boost has been given to agritech startup companies all over the country as a result of an announcement made by the government regarding the establishment of a digital public infrastructure for agriculture. This infrastructure will make it possible to provide inclusive farmer-centric services that are pertinent to crop protection. Despite the fact that agritech businesses managed to circumvent the slowdown in financing that occurred in 2022 and attract significant amounts of money from investors, India has not yet produced its first agritech unicorn. Will agritech firms be able to raise more capital this year and see accelerated growth as a result of the government's construction of a digital public infrastructure for agriculture?
There has been a 30 percent increase from what was allotted for 2022-23, bringing the total amount of the interest-free loan to states for capital expenditures over the course of a half-century to 1.3 lakh crore. The Ministry of Finance has said in the past that there has been a significant demand from the states for these loans that do not accrue interest.The loan to the states will have a term of fifty years and will be interest-free during that time. In spite of the fact that the budgeted support for capex has been set at 10 million crores, the effective capital expenditure of the government has been predicted to be 13.7 million crores for the fiscal year 2023–2024. In comparison, the effective capital expenditure for 2022-23 was estimated to be 10.68 lakh crore rupees in the budget.
An increase in capital expenditures of Rs 10 lakh crore, or 33 percent, would be equivalent to 3.3 percent of the nation's gross product.There has been a 30 percent increase from what was allotted for 2022-23, bringing the total amount of the interest-free loan to states for capital expenditures over the course of a half-century to 1.3 lakh crore.The pharmaceutical business will be encouraged to invest in research via the development of a new program for research in pharmaceuticals, which will also be established.The government will initiate a clean plan initiative with a budget of 2,200 million rupees.The budget would make environmentally responsible growth one of its top focuses.
