Finance Minister holds review meeting to boost CAPEX and Infrastructure in India
26 Oct 2021 15:12:55
New Delhi, October 26: To give a boost to capital expenditure (CAPEX) and infrastructure progress in India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired review meetings with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Department of Telecommunications.
She said that infrastructure spending includes not just Central Government budgetary expenditure on infrastructure, but spending by State Governments and private sector. The private CAPEX on infrastructure, and those under Public-Private Partnership should be tracked to capture the complete infra progress in India.
This meeting was the first of series of review meetings by Finance Minister on CAPEX with various infrastructure Ministries / Departments.
She highlighted that there must be an accelerated phase of infrastructure development and Ministries must continuously make concerted efforts to ensure that project implementation is quick.
In the meeting, CAPEX status of Q1 and Q2, front-loading of CAPEX, estimated targets of capital spending by Ministries and their Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in upcoming quarters of current FY, expenditure incurred for implementation of National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) projects, estimation of funds to be raised by asset monetization, projects undertaken through PPP and Convergence under National Master Plan (Gati-Shakti) were discussed. She reviewed that Ministries must pool in efforts, ensuring higher capital spending in coming months, achieving growth in economy.
Sitharaman urged officials to monitor implementation of projects besides monitoring release of funds and said that infrastructure projects are priority for Government; necessary funds will be made available for CAPEX.
She said that infrastructure spending includes not just Central Government budgetary expenditure on infrastructure, but spending by State Governments and private sector. The private CAPEX on infrastructure, and those under Public-Private Partnership should be tracked to capture the complete infra progress in India.
She directed officials in Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to work with Ministry of Civil Aviation, ensuring that more projects are initiated. CAPEX spending in FY23 is substantially increased than present target. She asked the Department of Telecommunications to push its CPSE CAPEX, fast-track asset monetization, and work in coordination with DIPAM to finalise process of monetization at earliest, ensuring expeditious implementation of digital expansion plans in North-East region on priority.
This meeting was the first of series of review meetings by Finance Minister on CAPEX with various infrastructure Ministries / Departments.