Post Budget Analysis | Ports

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Proposals</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Budget allocation of Rs 600 crore for projects under Sagarmala, Rs 322.6 crore for the development of ports and Rs 508 crore for grants to the Inland Water Transport Authority of India. </li>
<li>Plan to develop a National Logistics Portal as a single window online market place to link all stakeholders.</li></ul><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Impact: Neutral</span><br />
Allocation to Sagarmala and inland waterways in terms of budgetary support remains low as compared to the cost of planned initiatives under these schemes. Development of a National Logistics Portal will improve the ease of doing business and also help reduce costs by improving efficiency and boosting the volume for port and port logistics players.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rajiv Agarwal, MD &amp; CEO, Essar Ports</span><br />
The Budget clearly displays that post-demonetisation, GST implementation and bank recapitalisation, the economy will witness an 8 per cent growth trajectory and buoyant tax collections. The stress is on recharging the rural economy by shoring up infrastructure, ensuring livelihood, doubling farm income and increasing agriculture exports. <br />
On the infrastructure side, large spends are being done this year: Rs 14.3 lakh crore on rural infrastructure, Rs 14.8 lakh crore on the railways and Rs 5.9 lakh crore on overall infrastructure spends. These investments will provide impetus to growth, demand and employment generation.<br />