Govt’s FY24 capex target on track; 80% spent till early-Feb

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : The Union government is on track to achieve its capital expenditure target for the ongoing financial year, a senior government official said, riding accelerated spending on key infrastructure projects essential to spur economic growth. Till early February, the government had spent about 80% of its total capital expenditure target for FY24, according to a briefing by the finance ministry on Monday.

In the first nine months of the financial year, the government had spent only about 68% of its capex target, as per the Centre’s response to questions at the Rajya Sabha earlier this month. The official mentioned earlier, requesting anonymity, also said the government was holding a modest cash balance to meet its commitments for the final three months of FY24.

“The cash balance with the Centre is not high as the government’s borrowing for the fiscal year has been completed," the official said, without disclosing the amount. In the July-September second quarter, the Central government had aimed to maintain a comfortable cash position of at least ₹1 lakh crore to ensure sufficient buffers.

However, the cash balance has depleted since due to the government’s increased capital expenditure. The Union government’s capex target for FY24 stands at ₹9.5 lakh crore, as per the revised budgetary allocation for the financial year, up from the ₹7.28 lakh crore revised estimate for FY23.

For FY25, the government in its interim budget raised the central capex allocation to ₹11.11 trillion to develop infrastructure projects. Mint had on 11 February reported that the railways, road transport, and highways ministries had utilised up to 85% of their budgetary allocations in the first nine months of FY24, and the defence ministry about