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Capital Expenditure (Capex)
Capital expenditure is money spent on assets that last for years, such as highways, ports, railway lines, power plants and machinery. Revenue expenditure, by contrast, covers recurring costs like salaries, pensions and interest.
Why It Matters
Capex builds the economy’s future capacity, which is why it is treated as better-quality spending than subsidies.
In India
The 2026-27 Budget set public capital expenditure at ₹12.2 lakh crore, much of it for roads, railways and defence.
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