Budget reaction: Infrastructure sector

3 Feb 2022 , 05:29 PM

The increase in infra spend for the year has risen from INR 5.54 Lakh Crore to INR 7.5 lakh Crore. This is a huge number and an increase of c. 35.4%. Of course, it is likely to include catch-up spend from the prior years that was not deployed due to the pandemic.

One of the highlights was the INR 60,000 Crore allocation for providing tap water to 3.8 Crore households. 20% of this will be spent on pipes, benefiting the steel pipe sector.

At the core is the Gati Shakti program which aims to bring 16 Ministries together to improve coordination and develop a holistic master plan for infra with INR 100 Crore allocated. Some of key points are that the national highway is to be expanded by 25,000km. This will be a positive for road-laying EPCs.  Also, 4 new multi-modal logistic parks are to be kicked off, as well as 400 new express trains and 100 new cargo terminals to be built in the next 3 years.

While design and execution are equally important, all these pushes should benefit the overall infra sectors such as steel, cement, pipes EPC and India in general

The author of this article is Mr. Ricky Kirpalani, Lead Sponsor, First Water Capital Fund (AIF)

The views and opinions expressed are not of IIFL Securities, indiainfoline.com