Yadupati Singhania
NEW DELHI:The Government of India has enhanced allocation for the Infrastructure Sector in the Union Budget 2018-19, recognizing its role as the growth driver of the economy.
The budgetary and extra budgetary expenditure for the Sector has been increased from Rs.4.94 lakh crore in 2017-18 to Rs.5.97 lakh crore in 2018-19. An all time high allocation of Rs 1,34,572 crore has been made for the transport sector while the efforts to develop disaster resilient infrastructure is being given a push with an allocation of Rs. 60 crore in 2018-19. This was announced by the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley while presenting the General Budget 2018-19 in Parliament..
On the infrastructure front, the Finance Minister has shown remarkable restraint, and therein lies the brilliance of his announcements. India is at the cusp of an infrastructure revolution, and the budgetary support of Rs. 5.97 lakh crore for FY19 will be a big positive for the sector and supplementary industries such as cement,” said Yadupati Singhania, CMD, JK Cement Ltd.
The focus of the government will likely remain on effective and timely execution of existing projects,with the FM promising construction of 9,000 km highways by the end of FY19. Also, it was encouraging to see the reinforcement of the government’s commitment to the Bharatmala Project, which will be a major boost to demand in the next financial year.
Besides this, the announcement of the Affordable Housing Fund was also a positive announcement,especially since it will create an impetus for the housing sector, which contributes around 65% to India’s cement demand.”