Healthcare, Railways and infrastructure get a major boost
It was a big Monday for India. The annual budget was a mixed bag but the only new element if one could talk about was it was a paperless presentation.
The budget was on expected lines as India is still coming to terms with the pandemic, a boost to the healthcare sector was on the cards and the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a total spend of over Rs 2 lakh crore on healthcare.
The Government of India is keen on Covid-19 vaccine development and has earmarked Rs 35,000 crore for vaccine development. It may be mentioned that India has two Covid-19 vaccines that are not just safeguarding Indian citizens but several countries in South East Asia and Africa.
Another sector that received a major fillip is the transport behemoth-the Indian Railways. Though reeling under severe losses, the government decided to inject a lot of funds. There has been a lot of talk on privatization of Indian Railways and the Railway Board is keen to see that bids for over 150 private trains are finalized this year.
In a surprise move, the minister announced the development of over 100 airports but did not speak about reduction of airport charges. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Rs 63,000 crore funds for Chennai Metro line. The focus is also on giving a leg up to Tejas Express, wi-fi facilities, better connectivity to tourist sites, solar power capacity to fuel the rail network.
In infrastructure, the National Infrastructure Pipeline that was launched in the year 2019 with 6835 projects has now been given an addition and stands at 7,400 projects.
In the union budget 2021, infrastructure sector has received a major boost. The National Infrastructure Pipeline that was launched in the year 2019 with 6835 projects has now been given an addition and stands at 7,400 projects.
Close to 2oo-odd projects worth Rs 1.10 lakh crores under some key infrastructure Ministries have been completed.
