The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman projects a quantum jump in demand for grants for central sector schemes and projects from Rs 2,755 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 5,892 crore for the 2023-24 financial year. Building capacities of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER, North Eastern Council and states in the region for improving the flow and absorption of the fund will be crucial for putting the region on a faster track of development. The significant hike in budget outlay under Prime Minister's Development Initiative for NorthEast Region (PM-DevINE) and North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) account for this substantial increase. Reducing the time gap between budget announcement and actual implementation also needs to be prioritized. The PMDevINE announced in the last year's budget an initial allocation of Rs 1,500 crore. The fact that PMDevINE Scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet on October 12, 2022, and therefore only Rs 400 crore could be earmarked in the revised budget estimates for 2022-23. The allocation under the scheme for 2023-24 budget estimates is proposed to be raised to Rs 2,200 crore and greater emphasis should be laid on fast-tracking the sanction of projects and utilization of funds from the beginning of the financial year. The scheme to be implemented through the NEC will fund infrastructure, in the spirit of PM GatiShakti, and social development projects based on the felt needs of the region to enable livelihood activities for youth and women and fill the gaps in various sectors. It is not a substitute for existing central or state schemes and the central ministries may submit their projects, but priority is given to those submitted by the states. The states in the region, therefore, have a crucial role to play in ensuring the timely and judicious utilization of funds allocated under this central sector scheme. The demand for grants under NESIDS is proposed to be increased from Rs 1,100 crore project in the 2022-23 budget to Rs 2491 crore in the 2023-24 budget. The erstwhile Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR)-State scheme was restructured as NESIDS in 2017 with the broad objective of ensuring focused development of the region by providing financial assistance for projects of physical infrastructure relating to water supply, power, connectivity, and especially the projects promoting tourism and social sector projects for creation of infrastructure in the areas of primary and secondary sectors of education and health. The allocation under NESIDS is over and above the existing schemes of Central and State Governments and only those projects considered for funding which are not supported under any other scheme of the Central or State government which helps prevent overlapping of development projects and provides scopes for taking up new projects for bridging infrastructure gaps. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its report on DoNER Ministry highlighted that one of the bottlenecks in project implementation under the NLCPR scheme with a funding pattern of 90:10 was the non-release of the state share of funds. The scheme of NESIDS provides 100% funding from Central Government to overcome this issue. The report also brought to the fore the hard realities of the funds allocated under NESIDS being significantly reduced to Rs 678.79 crore in Budget Estimates for 2022-23 as against the projected amount of Rs 1,100 crores. Since the commencement of the scheme in 2017, funding under the NLCPR-State scheme is provided for ongoing projects only, based on actual progress and the furnishing of updated documentation and slashing of budget allocation speaks volumes about the pace of progress of various ongoing schemes under the scheme. The report also mentions that non-receipt of utilization certificates from the states was a key factor behind the underutilization of funds allocated under the NEC-Special Development Project. Unless the States overcome the problem of non-submission of utilization certificates mere higher allocations under various central sector scheme is not going to bring the desired pace of development. Besides, the delay in project execution leads to cost escalation which drains the taxpayers' money. Geo-tagging of all projects is necessary to improve real-time monitoring of project execution and regular physical inspection by officials are needed for ensuring quality work and judicious utilization of fund released to project authorities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the northeast region more than 50 times and union ministers have also visited more than 400 times since 2014 which speaks volumes about the high priority given by the Central government to the faster pace of development in the region. The States need to overcome deficiencies in project implementation, monitoring and evaluation to achieve the objectives of increasing allocation in the budget so that the region can fully unlock its untapped potential. Availability of funds is no longer a hindrance to the faster pace of development in the northeast, but utilization of funds is yet to get the desired attention.