New Delhi, March 25 -- Delhi's fiscal priorities have made a huge pivot from the politically rewarding populism of Aam Aadmi Party's 10-year rule to capital expenditure under the current Rekha Gupta-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. This is best seen in a 10-percentage point increase in the share of capital spending in the city state's (technically a Union territory's) budget under the current government. If implemented well, not just in terms of money being spent, but money spent wisely, effectively and sustainably, this could be a much-needed policy turnaround for the declining fortunes and living standards of the national capital. While some of the pivot towards capex is a political call, some of it could well be a result of better synergy between the Union government and the Delhi government which had completely broken down during the AAP government's latter phase. Chief minister Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Delhi government, presented her second budget on Tuesday. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi will spend Rs.1,03,700 crore in 2026-27, the budget said. Rs.30,799.72 crore of this amount has been allocated to capital expenditure. This makes 2026-27 the second consecutive year when Delhi's capital spending will be in the ballpark of 30% of the overall expenditure. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) database, Delhi's capital spending share never crossed 30% under the AAP government and in fact only crossed 25% once -- in 2015-16. While it is early days for the current government, the capex share numbers for past two years are on track to getting back to what they used to be in the pre-AAP days, for 15 years under Sheila Dikshit's Congress government. A large part of the city's infrastructure, including the Delhi Metro was built during those years. This, more than anything else, is the key takeaway from this year's Delhi budget. htc...