Budget's infra focus gives us confidence: L&T CFO Raman

The company says that bookings of new infrastructure orders may slow in coming quarters

- Nehal Chaliawala

The interim budget has indicated that the government will focus on infrastructure investment as a growth lever, which bodes well for Larsen & Toubro Ltd, its chief financial officer (CFO) said in an interview.

However, the government should focus on expediting project execution to attract foreign capital to India's infrastructure sector and speed up the country's development journey, R.

Shankar Raman, the finance chief of the engineering and construction major, told Mint.

The government on 1 February allocated 11.11 trillion for developing infrastructure projects in the 2024-25 budget, an 11.1% increase from last year.

While infrastructure capital expenditure (capex) in absolute terms is higher, the growth rate has tapered. Infrastructure capex had grown by 37% in 2023-24, 24% in 2022-23 and 40% in 2021-22.

"Directionally, what the finance minister indicated on Thursday is that they will continue to use investment as a basis for creating growth," Shankar Raman said.

SE its by "If with 10 lakh crore (10 tril- TI lion) we were targeting and getting what we wanted, l1 lakh crore (ll trillion) is only a better platform.