The Indian Railways is expected to receive a boost in capital expenditure in the upcoming interim budget as the Central Government is likely to allocate Budget outlay of Rs 3 trillion in FY 2025. The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman may allocate more funds to facilitate a significant transformation of the national transportation system, including the introduction of modern and high-speed trains as well as enhanced safety measures.
In 2023-24, the budgetary support was around Rs 1.6 lakh crore, while the capital allocation was around Rs 2.45 lakh crore. The gross budgetary support last year went up to Rs 2.4 lakh crore in 2023-24, while the total capital allocation was Rs 2.6 lakh crore.
The likely increase of budget support by nearly a quarter in FY25, coming on the back of a 50% increase in FY24, also reflects the railways’ inability to generate enough resources from its own operations and the constraints faced by it in monetising its massive assets to fund new projects.
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