The Union Budget
2022 should give a push to infrastructure projects under the National
Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) as it is vital for economic growth.
A sustained momentum for infrastructure spending is important to achieve
sustained medium-term growth of 7.0% and above, according to a report by EY
India.

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It said that
additional infrastructure spending in the last three years of the NIP should be
undertaken to make up for the shortfall in the initial three years of the NIP.
The revised medium-term fiscal consolidation path should accommodate the
enhanced infrastructure spending to the original NIP targets, according to EY
India.

According to
Sujjain Talwar, partner, Economic Laws Practice, monetization of assets in the
highway and railway sectors is expected to be the central idea for the sector.

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In the previous
fiscal, the government made a significant move in granting priority to the
infrastructure sector. The National Monetisation Pipeline and the PM Gati
Shakti were the bold policy moves. This year also the infrastructure sector has
high expectations from the budget. The focus should be on ensuring
connectivity, enhancing the ease of doing business, and reaching India’s
climate change targets.

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Considering the
lower expenditure during the year than the budget allocations, there are
possibilities of lower budgetary allocations for the ministries.

According to Padma Priya J, partner and infra expert, government, Grant
Thornton Bharat, “Given the current gradual recovery from the second wave, the
economic growth forecast for our country is being cut to 8.5% in FY 2022-23.
Uncertainties about the economic outlook seem elevated”. The infrastructure
sector is the engine for economic growth and accelerates economic growth the
government needs to increase the capital outlays in the sector.

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Pallavi Singh, vice-president, Super Plastronics PVT LTD (SPPL), India brand
licencee of Westinghouse TV, says that initiatives such as building tech hub,
semiconductor manufacturing and efforts under National Policy on Electronics
(NPE) are required to boost Make-in-India.

She added that
given the semiconductor shortage in the world, the government should help the
sector under the NPE schemes and in the form of subsidies.

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According to Singh,
National Policy on Electronics can help our country in reducing its dependence
on foreign nations. Semiconductor/chipset manufacturers should be given tax
subsidizing schemes to reduce the burden on an entity since the portion of
investment required is quite huge. Those already manufacturing consumer
electronics in India can also be included under the NPE.