The big surprise in the Union Budget is the government’s willingness to gamble on the budget deficit. Not since Pranab Mukherjee’s 2009 budget, have we seen such an aggressive budget. The difference, however, is that whilst Mr. Mukherjee ramped up the UPA government s revenue expenditure (especially on NREGA), the NDA government has stepped up capex. The big thrust in this year’s budget is for infrastructure development. The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is targeted to undertake a total of 7,400 projects this year and a Development Financial Institute (DFI) will be set up with Rs 20,000 crore capitalisation and lending capabilities of 5 trillion over the next three years. This is definitely a big boost for infrastructure projects in the country. In total, government capex for financial year 2021-22 (FY22) is estimated at Rs 5.54 trillion up from Rs 4.39 trillion in FY21, a steep rise which will aid in boosting the economy.