THE INFRA PUSH

While total budget expenditure in 2021-22 is only about a percent higher than that in 2020-21, there is a 26% increase in capital expenditure, suggesting a big infra push. The finance minister also announced her intention to introduce a bill to set up a Development Financial Institution which was necessary to act as a ‘provider, enabler and catalyst’ for infrastructure financing. She also announced plans to launch a National Monetization Pipeline for better monetization of operating infra assets.