Modi to Spend $59 Billion to Upgrade India's Infrastructure
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced proposals for FY17-18
- Metro rail, airport modernization among plans announced
Sonal Varma, chief India economist at Nomura, discusses what to expect from India's budget, demonetization and her outlook for the economy. She speaks to Bloomberg's Rishaad Salamat on 'Bloomberg Markets.' (Source: Bloomberg)
India announced record spending of 3.96 trillion rupees ($59 billion) to build and modernize its railways, airports and roads as Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to upgrade the strained infrastructure in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The government will build airports -- now a near monopoly of the state -- in smaller cities in partnership with private companies, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while presenting the government’s budget proposals for the fiscal year starting in April. More suburban railways will come up across the country and Indian Railways, a state monopoly, will form ventures with logistics companies to provide greater connectivity to ports, he said.