Capital expenditure increase to boost infrastructure and asset monetisation for fiscal consolidation and economic recovery.
The Budget emphasizes a large increase in Capital Expenditure and a structured asset monetisation programme supported by a proposed Development Financial Institution, measures to enable InvIT/REIT and foreign portfolio debt financing, and an expanded National Infrastructure Pipeline. It pairs this with major multi year outlays for public health, urban water and sanitation, and sectoral support across manufacturing, transport, power and shipping, while advancing tax simplification, financial sector reforms and disinvestment to improve fiscal sustainability.

Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) announced to secure universal urban water supply and liquid waste management over a multi year period.
The Budget prioritises health and wellbeing with increased allocations for water, sanitation and air quality. It launches the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) to extend household tap connections and implement liquid waste management across urban local bodies over a multi year period, and funds comprehensive urban sanitation and waste management under Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0. The Budget provides targeted funding for air pollution mitigation in large urban centres and announces a Voluntary Vehicle Scrapping Policy featuring automated fitness testing and age based lifecycle thresholds for personal and commercial vehicles to promote cleaner, fuel efficient transport.

Public health investment prioritized in budget, strengthening health systems and vaccine funding to enhance prevention and care.
The Budget prioritises health and wellbeing with a large increase in allocation to strengthen preventive, curative and wellbeing services, launch PM Aatma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana to expand Health and Wellness Centres, public health laboratories, surveillance units and critical care blocks, fund COVID 19 vaccination and roll out pneumococcal vaccination nationally, and consolidate nutrition schemes into Mission Poshan 2.0 while advancing nursing and allied health professional regulation.

Conciliation mechanism mandated for contractual disputes with government to enable speedy out of court resolution and investor confidence.
A Conciliation Mechanism will be set up and mandated for prompt resolution of contractual disputes with the Government and Central Public Sector Enterprises to expedite out of court settlement, improve ease of doing business, and bolster investor and contractor confidence.

Capital expenditure increase expands budgetary support to progressing infrastructure projects and channels substantial funding to states and autonomous bodies.
A substantial increase in capital expenditure is announced in the Union Budget 2021-22, prioritising infrastructure despite fiscal constraints, with a departmental reserve to fund projects showing good progress and dedicated funding to States and autonomous bodies to support capital programmes and incentives to nudge higher state infrastructure spending.

Foreign investment in insurance allowed with ownership and control subject to residency, board independence, and reserve safeguards.
Increase in permissible Foreign Direct Investment in the insurance sector is proposed with foreign ownership and control allowed subject to safeguards: majority of directors and key management to be resident Indians, at least half the board to be independent directors, and a portion of profits to be retained as general reserve. The Insurance Act, 1938 will be amended to implement these governance and ownership conditions.

Single Securities Markets Code to consolidate market statutes and streamline regulation, with measures to bolster bond market liquidity.
Introduction of a Securities Markets Code to merge existing securities statutes into a single regulatory framework, together with measures to support a Fin Tech hub, create a permanent purchaser of investment grade debt securities to bolster bond market liquidity, strengthen a commodity market ecosystem with SEBI regulated gold exchanges, and establish an investor charter as a right across financial products.

Fiscal consolidation via amendment to FRBM Act to reduce central fiscal deficit and boost revenue through asset monetisation.
The Budget responds to pandemic driven weak revenues and high relief spending by raising 2020 21 revised expenditure and financing a higher fiscal deficit through government and market borrowings; 2021 22 projects elevated expenditure with increased capital outlay and planned market gross borrowing. It proposes an amendment to the FRBM Act to set a medium term declining fiscal deficit path achieved via improved tax buoyancy and asset monetisation, revises treatment of extra budgetary resources, and preserves State vertical devolution while setting conditional borrowing ceilings and revenue deficit grants.

Strategic disinvestment roadmap announced to privatise non strategic CPSEs and incentivise state participation in asset monetisation.
A policy establishes a clear strategic disinvestment roadmap classifying sectors as strategic (limited state presence in specified domains) and non strategic (CPSEs to be privatised or closed). Implementation measures include targeted transactions for identified CPSEs, proposals to privatise selected public sector banks and an insurance company, legislative steps for a public offering, directing identification of further candidates, state incentive packages for disinvestment, a special purpose vehicle to monetise idle land, and mechanisms for timely closure of loss making CPSEs.

Independent gas transport system operator to enable non-discriminatory open access for booking common carrier pipeline capacity.
Extension of the household cooking fuel scheme to additional beneficiaries, expansion of city gas distribution into further districts over a multi-year period, initiation of a gas pipeline project in the Union Territory, and establishment of an Independent Gas Transport System Operator to facilitate and coordinate booking of common carrier capacity across all natural gas pipelines on a non-discriminatory open-access basis.

Result-linked power distribution reforms to fund DISCOM infrastructure upgrades and introduce consumer choice among distribution companies.
A centrally funded result linked power distribution reform scheme will assist DISCOMs in infrastructure creation-including pre paid smart metering, feeder separation and system upgrades-conditioned on financial improvements. A competitive framework will be introduced to allow consumers to choose among multiple distribution companies. A National Hydrogen Energy Mission is also proposed to generate hydrogen from green power sources to advance the green energy transition.

National highway expansion: increased budget allocation to accelerate awards, corridor completions and traffic management upgrades.
The budget increases capital funding for road transport to accelerate national highway development, prioritising awards and completions under the flagship corridors programme. Immediate targets include substantial additional awards and corridor completions within the coming year, supported by prior awards and partial construction under the programme. State-specific economic corridor packages and major expressway initiations are planned, and new four and six lane highways will incorporate modern traffic management technologies to enhance safety and operations.

Record railway capital outlay backs National Rail Plan, DFC commissioning, network electrification and safety upgrades.
Record railway funding is allocated to implement a National Rail Plan for India - 2030 focused on capital investment, commissioning Western and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors by mid 2022, advancing specific DFC sections in public private partnership mode, preparing Detailed Project Reports for additional freight corridors, and accelerating broad gauge electrification. Planned upgrades also include Vista Dome LHB tourist coaches and deployment of an indigenous automatic train protection system on high density routes to enhance safety.

Public transport funding increases: new central scheme supports city bus augmentation and low cost metro deployment nationwide.
A central budgetary initiative proposes a new scheme to support augmentation of city bus services through PPP models enabling private sector financing, acquisition, operation and maintenance of over twenty thousand buses, and promotes deployment of lower cost metro technologies (MetroLite and MetroNeo) for Tier 2 and peripheral urban areas, alongside central counterpart funding for specific metro project phases to accelerate metro and RRTS expansion.

Development Financial Institution capitalisation to boost infrastructure lending; amendments to permit debt financing of InVITs and REITs by foreign investors.
A Development Financial Institution will be capitalised to catalyse infrastructure lending and legislative amendments will permit debt financing of InVITs and REITs by foreign portfolio investors; concurrently a National Monetization Pipeline and Asset Monetization dashboard will be launched to monetize operational public infrastructure assets via transfers into InvITs and concessions across roads, transmission, pipelines, airports, railway assets, warehousing and stadiums.

Agricultural credit target increase to expand farm lending and support allied sectors, paired with infrastructure and market reforms.
Nine measures aim to bolster agriculture and rural welfare: extend SWAMITVA to all States/UTs; raise the agricultural credit target with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries; increase the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund and double the Micro Irrigation Fund under NABARD; expand Operation Greens to 22 more perishables; integrate 1,000 additional mandis with e NAM; allow APMCs access to the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund; invest in five major fishing harbours and inland landing centres; and establish a multipurpose Seaweed Park in Tamil Nadu, alongside reiterated MSP linked procurement support.

One Nation One Ration Card enables nationwide portability of food entitlements for migrant workers and their families.
One Nation One Ration Card enables portability of food entitlements so beneficiaries, particularly migrant workers, can claim rations from any location with partial claims between workplace and native household. A national portal will collect data on the unorganised workforce to design Health, Housing, Skill, Insurance, Credit, and food schemes. Implementation of four Labour Codes will extend social security and minimum wage coverage to gig and platform workers and expand Employees State Insurance; single registration and online returns will cut employer compliance burden.

National Education Policy rollout to strengthen exemplar schools, expand partnership-run residential schools, and reform higher education governance.
Budget proposes operationalising the National Education Policy by qualitatively strengthening a network of schools to include all NEP components as regional exemplar institutions, expanding specialised residential schools through partnerships with NGOs, private providers and states, creating a Higher Education Commission of India with four functional vehicles for standard setting, accreditation, regulation and funding, establishing umbrella structures in selected cities supported by a glue grant, and setting up a Central University in Leh to improve higher education access.

National Research Foundation funding to strengthen research ecosystem, alongside measures for digital payments, language access, space and ocean missions.
A National Research Foundation is proposed with a multi year outlay to strengthen the national research ecosystem and target national priority thrust areas. Complementary measures include incentives to expand digital payments, a National Language Translation Mission to digitise governance and policy knowledge into major Indian languages, support for space launches and human spaceflight preparation, and a Deep Ocean Mission to fund deep ocean survey, exploration and conservation projects.

Production Linked Incentive schemes to scale manufacturing and integrate firms into global supply chains, fostering export champions and jobs.
A five-year financial commitment beginning FY 2021-22 funds Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes across thirteen sectors to build manufacturing scale, integrate firms into global supply chains, and foster technology, global competitiveness and employment. Separately, the Mega Investment Textile Parks (MITRA) scheme will establish seven textile parks over three years delivering plug-and-play infrastructure to attract investment, boost exports and generate jobs.