The government is expected to announce ₹1.3 lakh crore for railways under the national infrastructure pipeline

• The government had announced ₹1.10 lakh crore for the railways in the last budget.
• Further, it is expected that the government would allocate ₹1.3 lakh crore for railways under the national infrastructure pipeline.
• The expectations of strong funds coming into the railway sector have led to huge buying in shares of some railway companies in the last one month.

In last year’s union budget, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced ₹1.10 lakh crore for railways for FY 2021-22. As of November 2021, 61% of the budgeted amount had been spent.

Railway is among the core infrastructure assets for the country and all eyes are on the budget allocation towards it.

Further, it is expected that the government would allocate ₹1.3 lakh crore for railways under the national infrastructure pipeline from expected capital expenditure of ₹7 lakh crore for FY23.

Reportedly, the government is planning to raise the fund allocation to ₹2.5 lakh crore for railways. Since the government has reportedly suffered a loss of ₹26,338 crore last year due to COVID-19, thus it may increase train fares as well.

In fact, shares of the many railway companies have already rallied significantly in the last few weeks with one expectation of a strong railway budget.

Railway sector includes the government’s ambitious projects like high-speed rail including bullet trains and analysts expect special allocation to these segments in the upcoming budget. “The government should provide some dedicated allocations towards these projects (bullet trains, sagar mala, smart cities, inland waterways developments) in the budget,” said analysts at KR Choksey.

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