Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman today held Video Conference with Secretaries of the Ministries of Petroleum & Natural Gas and M/o Coal, along with the CMDs of 14 CPSEs belonging to these Ministries, to review the capital expenditure (CAPEX) in this financial year. This was 4th in the ongoing series of meetings that the Finance Minister is having with various stakeholders to accelerate the economic growth in the background of COVID–19 pandemic.

In FY 2019-20, against the CAPEX target of ₹ 1,11,672 crore for these 14 CPSEs, the achievement was ₹ 1,16,323 crore i.e. 104%. FY 2019-20, H1 achievement was ₹ 43,097 crore (39%) and achievement of FY 2020-21, H1 is ₹ 37,423 crore (32%). CAPEX target for 2020-21 is ₹ 1,15,934 crore.

While reviewing the performance of CPSEs, Smt. Sitharaman said that CAPEX by CPSEs is a critical driver of economic growth and need to be scaled up for the FYs 2020-21 & 2021-22. The Finance Minister asked the concerned Secretaries to closely monitor the performance of CPSEs in order to ensure the capital expenditure to the tune of 75% of the capital outlay by the end of Q3 of FY 2020-21 and make appropriate plan for it. Smt. Sitharaman expounded that more co-ordinated efforts are required at the levels of Secretary of concerned Ministries and CMDs of CPSEs to achieve CAPEX targets.

While mentioning the significant role of CPSEs in giving a push to the growth of the Indian economy, the Finance Minister encouraged the CPSEs to perform better to achieve their targets and to ensure that the capital outlay for FY 2020-21 is spent properly and within time. Smt. Sitharaman said that better performance of CPSEs can help the economy in a big way to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

The CPSEs CAPEX review is carried out jointly by Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Public Enterprises.

Capital expenditure oversight urged to reach major quarterly outlay, with ministries and CPSEs instructed to coordinate and monitor. The Finance Minister held a review stressing CAPEX as a critical driver of growth, noting lower H1 execution and urging scaling up CAPEX for FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22. Secretaries and CMDs were directed to coordinate closely and monitor performance to ensure timely and proper utilisation of capital outlay, specifically to achieve 75% of the capital outlay by end of Q3 of FY 2020-21, with joint CAPEX reviews conducted by the central economic and public enterprise departments.