New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- Ever since India's government set the goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, Union budgets have been bifocal. Massive outlays for an infrastructure build-up have been emblematic of this approach, designed to spur demand and multiply incomes during the year on one hand, while also acting as a long-term enabler of GDP expansion on the other. So, too, India's budget proposals for 2025-26, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The big difference this time, though, was an economic slowdown in 2024-25. In one analysis, this was the result of a foot taken off the spending pedal by the government, an election hitch that revealed just how heavily growth depends on it, even as credit growth flagged.

In another analysis,...