On paper, the Finance Minister has adhered to a fiscally conservative script, protected capital expenditure at a record Rs 12.2 lakh crore, and provided targeted incentives across manufacturing, biopharma, container production, textiles, and MSMEs—clearly indicating its intent to rebuild India's industrial base amid global supply-chain realignment.
Corporate India is set to double the capital expenditure to as much as $850 billion over the next five years, according to a report by S&P Global Ratings.
"Industrial and infrastructure-oriented sectors, on the other hand, while exhibiting sequential recovery, are yet to reach their year-ago levels, and contracted by 11 per cent and 14 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis respectively during the quarter," the analysis report said.
