Union Budget identifies 100 transport infra projects for first, last mile with ₹75k cr investment

Finance minister noted that the projects are for ports, coal, steel, fertilizer, and food grains sectors and they will be taken up on priority.

Fifty additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity.

Bringing a big boost for logistics in the country, Finance Minister pointed out infrastructure and investment as one of the seven priorities of the budget.

She said, “Capital investment outlay is being increased steeply for the third year in a row by 33 percent to ₹10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 per cent of GDP.”

Finance Minister also announced that a capital outlay of ₹2.40 lakh crore has been provided for the Railways, which is the highest ever outlay and about 9 times the outlay made in 2013- 14.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Aspirational India of today wants modern infrastructure in every field like road, rail, metro, port, and waterways. The unprecedented investment of ten lakh crores on infrastructure will give new energy and speed to India's development.”

It also decided to continue the 50-year interest-free loan to state govts for one more year to spur investment in infra and to incentivize them for complementary policy actions, with an enhanced outlay of ₹1.3 lakh crore.

Sitharaman proposed that coastal shipping will be promoted as the energy-efficient and lower-cost mode of transport, both for passengers and freight, through PPP mode with viability gap funding.

Finance Minister announced that the revamped credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs, proposed in the previous budget, will take effect from April 1, 2023, through the infusion of ₹9000 crore in the corpus.

To enhance business activities in GIFT IFSC, the budget proposed initiatives such as delegating powers under SEZ Act to IFSCA to avoid dual regulation, single window IT system for registration and approval, permitting acquisition financing by IFSC banking units of foreign banks, establishing a subsidiary of EXIM Bank for trade re-financing, recognizing offshore derivative instruments as valid contracts.

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