The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and other state-run agencies like NHAI and the Railways invested Rs 8.1 lakh crore, or 103% of the target, in 2024-25. Capital expenditure by these entities was aided by a surge in investments by the National Highways Authority of India and oil explorer ONGC.
Railways and NHAI’s investments have been funded through the budget for the last few years. Both entities accounted for 55% of the CPSEs’ capex target for FY25. Beating the initial slowdown, NHAI has exceeded its annual target of Rs 1.69 lakh crore investment, while the railways board has also nearly achieved its target of Rs 2.6 lakh crore.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) investment surged by a whopping 184% to Rs 77,926 crore in the first ten months of FY25.
The CPSEs and other agencies with annual capex targets of Rs 100 crore and above have set a combined target of investing Rs 7.87 lakh crore for FY25.
The slowdown in public capex—Centre, states and CPSEs- till December in the current financial year has been largely due to the impact of the general election and extended rains.
Other CPSEs which have made substantial investment include fuel retailer-cum-refiner India Oil Corporation, NTPC and Coal India.
The Centre is following a public capex –union, states and public enterprises—led economic growth revival. Yet, the public capex slowed down in FY25 due to factors including general elections.
In April-February of FY25, the Centre’s capex rose by a meagre 0.8%.
After trailing by huge margins most of the year, states’ capital expenditure has improved in April- February with less than a 1% annual decline, aided by the Centre’s acceleration in capex loans.
Source from: https://www.financialexpress.com/business/industry/cpse-capex-in-fy25-at-103-of-target/3805724/
