Jaitley reviews PSUs’ capital expenditure programme -Governance Now

Jaitley reviews PSUs’ capital expenditure programme

CPSEs’ chiefs say they are on track for achieving the capital expenditure of Rs 3.85 lakh crore

GN Bureau | September 29, 2017

#PSU #Arun Jaitley #capital expenditure #debt

Finance minister Arun Jaitley reviewed capital expenditure programme and status of dividend distribution of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) with secretaries of key ministries including petroleum, defence, power, road transport, railways, coal, mines, steel, atomic energy.

Jaitley stressed that the CPSEs should not only complete their budgeted capital expenditure but also aggressively push capital expenditure to boost investment in the Indian economy.

Senior officials from the key ministries and PSUs’ chiefs apprised Jaitley that their capital expenditure programme for the current year are completely on track for achieving the capital expenditure of Rs 3.85 lakh crore budgeted in 2017-18.

Some PSUs informed that they were planning to increase their capital expenditure programme, which in the aggregate, might be of the order of additional Rs 25,000 crore.

The minister assured that the government would make available adequate resources but no slackness under any circumstances would be acceptable. He indicated that the capital expenditure programme would again be reviewed by either November or December.

During the meeting, it was found that most of the PSUs have very low or no debt on their balance sheet which is reflected in their low debt to equity ratios. CPSEs were, therefore, asked to raise more debt and not to rely entirely on cash and free reserves for finding new investments and capital expenditure.

Finance secretary Ashok Lavasa advised the CPSEs to release outstanding payments expeditiously to help improve the liquidity in the market.

Comments

Other News

When Nandini Satpathy told Biju Patnaik: ‘I’ll sit on the chair you are sitting on’

Nandini Satpathy: The Iron Lady of Orissa By Pallavi Rebbapragada Simon and Schuster India, 321 pages, Rs 765

Elections 2024: 1,351 candidates in fray for Phase 3

As many as 1,351 candidates from 12 states /UTs are contesting elections in Phase 3 of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The number includes eight contesting candidates for the adjourned poll in 29-Betul (ST) PC of Madhya Pradesh. Additionally, one candidate from Surat PC in Gujarat has been elected unopp

2023-24 net direct tax collections exceed budget estimates by 7.40%

The provisional figures of direct tax collections for the financial year 2023-24 show that net collections are at Rs. 19.58 lakh crore, 17.70% more than Rs. 16.64 lakh crore in 2022-23. The Budget Estimates (BE) for Direct Tax revenue in the Union Budget for FY 2023-24 were fixed at Rs. 18.

‘World’s biggest festival of democracy’ begins

The much-awaited General Elections of 2024, billed as the world’s biggest festival of democracy, began on Friday with Phase 1 of polling in 102 Parliamentary Constituencies (the highest among all seven phases) in 21 States/ UTs and 92 Assembly Constituencies in the State Assembly Elections in Arunach

A sustainability warrior’s heartfelt stories of life’s fleeting moments

Fit In, Stand Out, Walk: Stories from a Pushed Away Hill By Shailini Sheth Amin Notion Press, Rs 399

What EU’s AI Act means for the world

The recent European Union (EU) policy on artificial intelligence (AI) will be a game-changer and likely to become the de-facto standard not only for the conduct of businesses but also for the way consumers think about AI tools. Governments across the globe have been grappling with the rapid rise of AI tool