For years, India’s painted elephants have been one of the country’s most iconic status symbols. But as next month’s Commonwealth Games looms, New Delhi could soon be on a crash course with a much larger white elephant.

Despite the mounting excitement at street level over the sub-continent’s biggest ever sporting event, it is the rising deficit and budget shortfall that is being frantically debated at India’s parliament house, Lok Sabha.

Proving to be as controversial as it is costly, the October jamboree is expected to rise beyond the current estimate of €2bn, making it the most expensive branding exercise India has ever indulged in. Some estimates have even put the bill at €6bn, more than six times the cost of the 2006 Melbourne Games. With rich sponsors in short supply (most domestic advertisers are tied up with the IPL cricket franchise) the government has stepped in to ask for last-minute support from the country’s top performing state-owned firms on the basis that it’s a “good cause”.

Ministers are also raining down on the neck of every hotelier, labourer and engineer to get the infrastructure finished in time. With weeks to go, Connaught Place, the city’s commercial and business showpiece, still lies under layers of dust and forests of scaffolding; tree-lined avenues are still being dug up; and the hyped metro extension is causing more congestion than ever before. Moreover, with deadlines to hand over stadia and key venues to organisers by last December having long since passed, the Commonwealth Games Federation is starting to sweat about the level and standards of completion.

All of which puts Delhi in a very embarrassing position, especially as the Games’ many local detractors have hardly been shy in pointing out that while the colonial buildings, a legacy of the British Raj, are enjoying their facelift, Delhi’s citizens continue to suffer from vast economic disparity. Indeed, the government’s fear of failure on the world stage could ultimately tarnish India’s image as a huge success story.

Of course, progress has been made. Cue Delhi’s shiny, new, sky-lit Terminal 3 built at a cost of €2bn to coincide with the hosting of the 19th Games and to lure overseas investment. As a symbol of India’s new economic potential and surging growth it offers hope that, before the starter gun fires, Delhi’s infrastructure will be delivered on time if not to budget. Here’s hoping they can pull a painted elephant out of the hat.