Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exhorted central ministries to expedite capital expenditure and make up for the shortfalls in the first and second quarters of the current financial year in the third one itself.
In her first review meeting with ministries having significant capex outlays, Sitharaman on Tuesday took stock of the project implementation by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) and ministry of communication.
“Emphasising the meaningful creation of assets for public utility, Sitharaman underlined the importance of setting Quarterly targets and ensuring that they are achieved within a stipulated timeframe,” the finance ministry later said in a statement.
Due to a slowdown in government programmes due to general elections (in April-May), the Centre’s capex fell by 17.6% to Rs 2.6 lakh crore in April-July of FY25.
The decline in the CPSEs’ (including departmental arms) capex is more prominent for the top two investors –the Railways Board and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). In the first four months of the current financial year, railway’s capex fell by 25% to Rs 71,976 crore while NHAI investments fell by 8% to Rs 58,067 crore. Railways and NHAI’s investments are largely funded through budget.
Budgetary capex allocation for the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has increased by 90% from Rs 1.42 lakh crore in 2019-20 to Rs 2.72 lakh crore in 2024-25.
MoRTH Secretary apprised the Minister about the capex plans for the remaining period of 2024-25 and said that efforts are being made to attract private capital through various measures. The official also said that efforts are underway to ensure that asset recycling targets by NHAI are also met.
During the review with respect to the Ministry of Communication, the details of capex plans in for Bharat Net Programme, 4G mobile projects – Indigenous Technology, Network for Spectrum, and 4G saturation and other mobile projects were discussed. The estimated capex budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Communication in 2024-25 stood at Rs 28,835 crore.
A series of review meetings have been scheduled with Ministries/Departments with significant capex outlays as the government has adopted an investment-led economic growth model in recent years. The Centre has made an outlay of Rs 11.1 lakh crore for capex in the Budget 2024-25, an annual increase of 17%.
Make up for H1 capex shortfall in Q3, Sitharaman to ministries