Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday the government would focus on asset creation in infrastructure, which would have a multiplier effect on demand.

“We are putting money where assets will be created. When government is putting money into infrastructure, it would have a cascading effect. The money garnered from the divestment target would not go into a revenue expenditure item, but would create infrastructure for the economy and this would have a multiplier effect,” Sitharaman said at a conference organised by industry chamber Ficci.

The government has set an ambitious disinvestment target of Rs 2.10 lakh crore for the next financial year, which includes selling stakes in BPCL and LIC. “We are showing clearly where the monies being raised will go. So, it’s not being raised to fill a hole in the Consolidated Fund of India. The money being raised from disinvestment will go towards infrastructure.”

She said the government had clearly laid out its investment plans in infrastructure through the National Infrastructure Pipeline that envisages an investment of Rs 102 lakh crore by 2025. She urged industrialists to fit in their investment plans with the government's infrastructure projects.

“We are showing the direction. We are telling you where the money is going to be spent so that you can plan your investments and your investments and your expansion well in alignment with what government does... you will facilitate the government and we will equally facilitate the private sector,” she said.

Economic affairs secretary Atanu Chakraborty said the the government had not included the AGR dues of telecom players in the budget. About 15 operators owe the government about Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past dues — Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges. “AGR dues payment has not been taken into account in the budget,” Chakraborty said.

The past AGR or statutory dues payments have not been included as the matter is in the court, PTI said, quoting sources. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Tata Teleservices have jointly filed a modification application in the Supreme Court seeking more time to pay their statutory dues.

Fitch view

Fitch Ratings on Monday said India is expected to clock a GDP growth of 5.6 per cent in the next financial year, lower than the projection made by the government’s Economic Survey, as the budget has not “materially altered” its view on the country's growth outlook.

The Economic Survey, released a day before Sitharaman presented the budget on February 1, had projected a GDP growth of 6-6.5 per cent, up from 5 per cent estimate for 2019-20.

“The fiscal slippage announced in the government's new budget is modest relative to its previous targets, and is consistent with our expectations when we affirmed India’s “BBB-“ rating with a stable outlook last December, given slowing growth momentum,” said Thomas Rookmaaker, director and primary sovereign analyst for India, Fitch Ratings.