The capital expenditure by 54 large central public sector enterprises (CPSE) and the five departmental arms of the ministries, such as the Railway Board and National Highways Authority of India, rose 33% in the first half of the current fiscal with their spending reaching Rs 3.79 lakh crore by September 30, according to the latest data compiled by the Department of Public Enterprises.
The capital expenditure by CPSEs stood at Rs 2.85 lakh crore in the same period last year and has already crossed 52% of their budget expenditure for the current financial year.
The CPSEs are expected to front load their target with spending over 90% of their capex target by the third quarter, officials said.
“This year's capex target is higher and the nodal ministries have already instructed their respective CPSEs to meet 90% of their target by the third quarter,” a senior official told ET.
The official added that going by the momentum, the CPSEs will exceed the annual capex target.
The central government has set the capex target of Rs 7.33 lakh crore for this year for large CPSEs, up 13.4% over the revised target of about Rs 6.46 lakh crore in FY23.
The major chunk of the capex target was accorded to the Railway Board with the capex target of approximately Rs 2.44 lakh crore, followed by the National Highways Authority of India with annual capital expenditure target of about Rs 1.62 lakh crore.
Energy CPSEs lead the pack with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) alone having an annual capex target of Rs 30,395 crore, followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) with an annual target of Rs 30,125 crore.
Petroleum retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have their collective capex at Rs 20,000 crore in FY24.
Coal India has the annual target of Rs 16,600 crore for FY24.
The central government in the Union
Budget for 2023-24 had announced an impressive 33% increase in the capex allocation, to Rs 10 lakh crore.
In the April-September period in the current fiscal, government capital expenditure was Rs 4.91 lakh crore, or 49% of the annual target, which is higher than the corresponding figure of Rs 3.43 lakh crore in the same period last year.
Six months data is crucial as it forms the basis for the revised estimates for the current fiscal year.
Source Name : Economic Times