PSUs to spend over Rs.1 lakh crore

The state-owned companies have been asked to submit their spending plans for the next four quarters, while ensuring that all overdue payments to vendors and contractors are cleared on 15 October 2019.

Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said the companies have been asked to set up a portal by 15 October to enable service providers, vendors and contractors to track bills and payments so that the liquidity crunch is mitigated.

The Public Sector Units (PSUs) have also been told to detail the lifespan of arbitrations that lock payments after disputes with vendors and contractors, said Sitharaman who reviewed total Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) by the CPSUs in 2019-20 till now and plan for future CAPEX in the current Financial Year.

Addressing a press conference after meeting the heads of major Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) on 28 Sept 2019, the Minister said the PSUs will spend more than Rs.1 lakh crore in this financial year.

Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar added that the government is ensuring the momentum in Capex continues by taking care of delays in payments.

For this fiscal, the total Capex expected by the 34 CPSEs is about Rs.1.04 lakh crore. They will spend another Rs.50,000 crore till December 2019, and an additional Rs.54,000 crore for Q4FY20, Kumar said.

“The idea is to front-load the capital expenditure,” Sitharaman stressed.
Expenditure Secretary G C Murmu added that CPSEs will submit monthly reports on their Capex via their nodal ministries.

“We will review the expenditure status every 15 days,” he added.

The participating CPSEs in the meeting presented their Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) till August 2019 with the Finance Minister and explained their plans for the next two quarters.

ONGC has a capex plan of Rs.32,921 crore for FY 2019-20. Its capex till August 2019 was Rs.8,777 crore which was 26.66% of the total planned capex.

Indian Oil Corporation has a capex plan of Rs.25,083 crore of which Rs.8,173 crore (32%) has been spent.

NTPC has made CAPEX of Rs.8,490 crore (42%) out of a plan of Rs.20,000 crore. The CPSEs which participated in the meeting have plans of making capital expenditure of Rs.50,000 crore in the next quarter.

The Finance Minister stressed that CAPEX needs to be given a vigorous push in the next two quarters.

Therefore, CAPEX plan has to be firmed up and followed up with ground level execution. Ministry of Finance would monitor the capital expenditure regularly.

CPSEs must ensure that regular payments are cleared expeditiously as it spurs investment cycle and establish e-Billing portal for enabling stakeholders to track the status of payments.

Special efforts must be made to clear dues of MSMEs and resolve cases on the SAMADHAN portal of Department of MSME. fiinews.com