Informist, Monday, Jun 5, 2023

--Fin min source: NHAI Apr-May capital expenditure 299.20 bln rupees

--NTPC Apr-May capital expenditure 19.20 bln rupees

--Railways Apr-May capital expenditure at 570 bln rupees

--IOC Apr-May capital expenditure 55.45 bln rupees

--ONGC Apr-May capital expenditure 48.80 bln rupees 

--BPCL Apr-May capital expenditure 8.50 bln rupees

--HPCL Apr-May capital expenditure 14.59 bln rupees

By Priyasmita Dutta

NEW DELHI – Public sector undertakings seem to be pushing the accelerator on their capital expenditure. Such companies with an over 1-bln-rupee annual target each collectively spent 1.43 trln rupees, or 19% of their aim for 2023-24 (Apr-Mar), during the first two months of the fiscal, a senior finance ministry official told Informist.

The Union Budget for 2023-24 has set the cumulative capital expenditure target for all PSUs at 10.11 trln rupees, up 30.8% on year. Of this, the target for the top companies is 7.5 trln rupees. 

These top public sector companies had spent only 10% of their full year's capital expenditure aim in Apr-May last year, the official said, without detailing the absolute amount. 

"For the last few years, the bigger public sector companies are maintaining a good momentum in their capital expenditure," the official said. 

The Indian Railways and public sector companies under the railway ministry have made 570-bln-rupee capital expenditure during Apr-May, the official said.

Though the capital expenditure target of the Indian Railways and the public sector units under the railway ministry in 2023-24 is 2.93 trln rupees, the finance ministry tracks only 2.44 trln rupees. The capital expenditure by the Indian Railways and the public sector units in Apr-May accounted for 23.4% of the 2.44 trln rupees, the official said.

The Indian Railways alone is budgeted to spend 2.09 trln rupees as capital expenditure in 2023-24, up 55% from the revised estimate of 1.35 trln rupees last year. Of the total capital expenditure of 2.93 trln rupees of railways for the year, 2.40 trln rupees is provided from the Budget.

The National Highways Authority of India has spent 299.20 bln rupees, or 18% of their total target of 1.62 trln rupees, in the first two months of the fiscal, the official said.

The railway and road ministries together account for 50% of the total capital expenditure by PSUs. In the current fiscal year, the PSUs under the two ministries account for 5.24 trln rupees of the total PSU capital outlay of 10.11 trln rupees.

Among the oil PSUs, Indian Oil Corp Ltd has spent 55.45 bln rupees in Apr-May or 18.2% of the year's target, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd spent 14.59 bln rupees and 8.50 bln rupees, or 14.3% and 8.5% of their annual aims, respectively. Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd's capital expenditure for the period was 48.80 bln rupees of the target of 301.25 bln rupees, the official said.

NTPC Ltd spent 19.20 bln rupees in Apr-May, accounting for 8.6% of its 224.54-bln-rupee target for the full year, the official said.

The performance of PSUs is monitored by the government, which has been trying to push capital expenditure to spur private investments. The government has more than doubled its capital expenditure target in the last three years. Public sector companies' total target for the current fiscal year is 10.01 trln rupees, as against 4.26 trln rupees in 2020-21.  End

Edited by Ranjana Chauhan

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