India’s government is ramping up long-term investments and digital systems to boost growth, while maintaining fiscal discipline, as part of its Viksit Bharat vision for 2047.
India’s fiscal strategy is increasingly being framed around a simple trade-off: keep the public finances disciplined while pushing more money into long-term assets that can lift growth. According to expenditure secretary V Vualnam, the Centre is pressing states to raise capital expenditure and is doing so in part through 50-year interest-free loans under its capital investment support scheme. He said that fiscal prudence would provide the foundation for India’s Viksit Bharat ambition for 2047. Deccan Chronicle reported that Vualnam made the comments at an event in New Delhi.
Vualnam also pointed to the government’s growing reliance on digital systems to make spending more targeted. He said roughly ₹5 lakh crore a year is routed to states through the Public Financial Management System, which he described as helping public money reach the correct beneficiary or project more directly. The same infrastructure, he added, is also generating large pools of data that can be used to sharpen policymaking and improve delivery.
One area where the government is trying to use that data is agriculture. Vualnam said the administration now has information on around 100 million farmers, including landholdings and crop patterns, and is examining how that database could improve fertiliser distribution. The aim, he said, is to send subsidies more precisely to the farmers who need them, based on what they cultivate and where.
The emphasis on capital spending has already shown up in recent allocations to the states. Deccan Chronicle reported that the Centre approved ₹529.5 crore for reconstruction work in landslide-hit areas of Wayanad in Kerala under the 50-year loan scheme. It also said Telangana received ₹4,208 crore in 2025-26 through the same mechanism, alongside separate external funding for education projects from the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. At the same time, the Reserve Bank of India has warned that rising subsidy bills can crowd out more productive expenditure, underscoring the policy tension behind the Centre’s push for better-targeted spending and higher infrastructure outlays.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
