In a move to push capital expenditure utilisation by ministries, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met with the officials of the road, transport, and highways ministry and the department of telecom to review the plans for their budgeted capex. Sitharaman has urged the ministries to set up quarterly targets and ensure that they are achieved within a stipulated time frame while asking them to expedite the implementation of projects, a press statement by the finance ministry said.
This was the first in a series of meetings that will be chaired by the FM to take stock of the progress being made by ministries with significant capital outlays in the coming days, the press statement added.
The budgeted capex allocation for the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has increased by 90 per cent from ₹1.42 lakh crore in FY 2019-20 to ₹2.72 lakh crore in FY 2024-25. The road ministry told the FM that it was making efforts to attract private capital through various measures and ensure that asset recycling targets are also met.
The estimated budgetary capex allocation for the Ministry of Communication in FY 2024-25 stands at ₹28,835 crore. The telecom department, the press statement said, has outlined its targets for the BharatNet project, which aims to provide affordable broadband services to citizens in rural and remote areas. The department also highlighted the capital expenditure plans for the 4G saturation project and other mobile tower projects, which seek to improve connectivity in uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas.
The FM has asked the respective ministries to expedite implementation and make up for the first and second quarter targets in Q3 FY 2024-25 itself.
Both the revenue and capital expenditures of the government showed negative growth of -2.3 per cent and -17.6 per cent respectively during April-July 2024.
Chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran had recently said that government spending and capital investment was brought down due to the model code of conduct on account of the general elections, which in turn had led to a slight slowdown in GDP growth in the first quarter of FY 2024-25.
The Union Budget presented by Sitharaman on July 23 has kept the capital expenditure estimate unchanged from the interim budget levels at Rs 11.1 trillion.
First Published: Sep 03 2024 | 8:05 PM IS