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Sitharaman also said that the pace of disinvestment, which has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, will pick up in the coming months.
News agency PTI quoted FM Sitharaman saying, "We shall definitely sustain the momentum of public spending in infrastructure. Because that is the one way we assure that the multipliers will work and the economy's revival will be sustainable."
"I am conscious that the forthcoming Budget will have a vibrancy that is so required for the economy's revival, sustainable revival,” she further said.
What To Expect From The Budget?
As per speculation, the Union Budget which is most likely to be presented by the Finance Minister herself on February 1, next year will be addressing issues pertaining to growth because the COVID-19 crisis has adversely impacted all segments of the economy, including revenue collection, disinvestment, exports, and food prices.
Sitharaman has earlier said that the upcoming budget will be based on the growth narrative, focusing primarily on infrastructure and reforms amid the urgency to push economic growth hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Government's Stake Sale Spree
As the government is on a spree of stake sale of its different ventures from financial institutions and other public enterprises to raise funds, according to the Finance Minister the pace of disinvestment will be gaining a lot of momentum, and cases where the companies already have Cabinet approval will be taken up in all earnestness.
"Disinvestment will be happening, corporatization of banks. They should be able to raise money from the market, even that emphasis is being given, the government has taken a lot of steps to deepen and widen the debt market,” she further said.
According to reports, the government has pegged disinvestment proceeds in the current fiscal at Rs 2.10 lakh crore and has till now raised around Rs 10,500 crore through initial public offerings (IPOs) and offer for sale (OFS).
Meanwhile, for the sale of two big companies, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Air India, the government has received "multiple expressions of interest" for them.
Talking about the government borrowings, Sitharaman said that government borrowing was pegged at Rs 7 lakh crore in the Budget estimates for 2020-21, but it was later revised upwards to Rs 12 lakh crore.
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She further said, in order to ensure that expenditure does not suffer, the government market borrowing has already touched Rs 9.05 lakh crore, which is about 68 per cent more than last year as of November 20.
"So recognising that this is an unusual year, our borrowings have been kept absolutely at levels so that we can quickly put the money back in projects, in capital expenditure and so on so that the money goes to the ground. This emphasis that the public infrastructure spending has to be kept up has been fully recognized," she added.
The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is doing its best to attract funds from abroad and the emphasis on public expenditure for infrastructure through CPSEs will definitely be kept up, she further added that the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is being given priority.