Budgetary outlay to be in sync with 'Viksit Bharat' goal: MoS for Finance

Delhi: The Centre will continue to make budgetary allocations, keeping in mind the goal to make India a developed nation by 2047, as set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it has already done in recent years, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Friday.

The Budget for 2025-26 is expected to be presented on February 1 next year.

The Modi government, he stressed, has consistently raised its capital spending to bolster infrastructure creation over the past five years and aims to realise the 2024-25 capex target of ₹11.11 lakh crore. In fact, the Centre's capex outlay has more than doubled since 2021-22, Chaudhary told reporters in the capital.


According to a Niti Aayog vision document for a developed India, the country needs to emerge as a $30 trillion economy with a per capita income of $18,000 a year by 2047. This will mean India's GDP would have to grow nine times and the per capita income 8 times from the current levels,

Chaudhary said India's road, air and rail connectivity has seen substantial improvement over the past decade, accelerating economic growth and benefiting the public directly.

The national highway network has grown 1.6 times since 2014 to 1,46,195 km by November 2024, he said. Under phase 1 of the Bharatmala Project, national highways of 18,714 km have been completed, of the 34,800-km target. The length of high-speed corridors jumped to 2,474 km in 2024 from just 93 km a decade ago.

Similarly, the total length of four-lane or wider national highways surged to nearly 45,900 km from 18,300 km during this period. The government has also identified 35 strategic locations for development to bolster transportation efficiency and strengthen seamless freight movement.

These steps highlight the government's bid to create world-class transportation infrastructure, boost economic progress and improve the ease of living for citizens, the minister said.