Two of the biggest infrastructure ministries – road transport and highways as well as railways – have used more than 75 percent of the capital expenditure in the first nine months of the current fiscal. The road transport ministry is ahead with about 84 percent of the capex used, shows official data.
According to data from the ministry, the railways, which got Rs 2.62 lakh crore for the ongoing financial year, has spent Rs 1.95 lakh crore – about 75 percent till the end of the third quarter.
Against an estimated expenditure of Rs 2.58 lakh crore for 2023-24, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has spent Rs 2.15 lakh crore (84 percent) till December 2023. Collectively, the two ministries were allocated Rs 5.2 lakh crore and have spent Rs 4.1 lakh crore, which is around 80 percent till the end of December.
The ministry of finance has shared the annual capex targets and its achievement of select central public sector enterprises (CPSE) with an annual capex target of Rs 100 crore and above.
“Against the estimated expenditure of Rs 7.33 lakh crore (budget estimates), achievement is Rs 5.51 lakh crore (approx) – about 75.09% as on December 31, 2023. The same was Rs 4.50 lakh crore against the estimated capex of Rs 6.62 lakh crore – 67.99% – in the same period till December 2022,” the document reads.
Capex utilisation till the third quarter was critical as India will have the Lok Sabha elections by the end of the fourth quarter of the ongoing financial year. The polls will be held around April-May, while the term of the Lok Sabha is ending in May.
In the interim budget, presented earlier this month, the finance ministry continued its focus on infrastructure development by setting aside a large sum of Rs 11,11,111 crore. The outlay for 2024-25 is 3.4 percent of the GDP.
Among the ministries, the highest allocation is given to defence – Rs 6.2 lakh crore – followed by MoRTH at Rs 2.78 lakh crore. The railways, at the third position, has got Rs 2.55 lakh crore allocation.
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