India's government will raise its capital expenditure by 33% to 10 trillion rupees ($122.29 billion) in the next fiscal year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. "The Indian Railways capital outlay has been set at 2.40 lakh crore, highest ever; 9x of what was in 2013," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech on February 1. The railways was allocated Rs 1.4 trillion in the Union Budget 2022-23, of which Rs 1.37 trillion is earmarked for capital expenditure and Rs 3,267 crore for revenue expenditure.
The funds will be spent on building railway tracks, wagons, trains, electrification, signalling, and developing facilities at stations while focusing on safety. The railways needs funds for a number of projects including laying of new lines, gauge conversion, electrification, and signalling, apart from improvement in rolling stock. This will be the last full Budget of the second Narendra Modi government ahead of general elections in 2024. The Union Budget 2023 might not offer any major relief to households due to fiscal restraints. It would focus on long-term growth instead. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce increase in budget allocations for health, education and rural projects, helped by a pick up in tax collections. She might tweak tax rules including an alteration to the structure of capital gains tax, which would encourage investments.