HUMAN PLAY-NET

Amid vociferous expectations from different segments of the infrastructure sector, the industry awaits with bated breath the pronouncements Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would make during the Union Budget presentation on Tuesday. Given the mountain of hopes that the infra sector sits on, and the tightrope walk that the government needs to do between meeting the industry expectations and setting the pandemic-scarred economy on the right course, it remains anybody’s guess how far the FM would be able to live up to the expectations of the sector. However, experts across the spectrum feel that budgetary allocations going up for roads, highways and railway sector, among others, is almost a certainty. In the last two years, the Covid-19 outbreak triggered lockdowns across the country, playing havoc with the economy, with most sectors witnessing a slowdown. The government was also forced to tighten its purse strings to curtail diverse expenditures to divert the same towards meeting the ...

Robust infrastructure is a pre-requisite for national development, economic growth and improving the lives of citizens. That being the reason, creation and expansion of infrastructure, like roads and highways, railways network, ports and logistics, and waste management mechanism, has always been at the centre of economic activities. However, following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns slowed down the construction activities for various reasons, including shortage of workforce, lack of demand and of course shrinking of funds availability, among others. It was only following various timely interventions from the government that the economic activities started picking up as the pandemic went on the wane. But, in the wake of the emergence of Omicron variant of Covid towards 2021-end and possibilities of more such variants impacting various businesses in the days ahead, infrastructure sector players look forward to more provisions for them in the Union Budget 2022. ...