Between March 22 and April 22 Finance Minister P Chidambaram may hold a meeting with heads of public sector undertakings (PSUs) to review their capital expenditure plan, reports suggest.
During the meeting, the minister may discuss capital expenditure plans of PSUs for the coming financial year and also to prod the private sector to invest more.
Reports indicate that during the meeting the minister may review the timelines given to PSUs for investing surplus cash.
Further, in order to fast-track infrastructure projects, the government plans to hold meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) twice a month. The CCI is likely to clear projects facing problems in the power, roads and highways sectors in its next meeting.
The government had asked cash-rich state-run companies to invest their idle funds by March to spur manufacturing or be prepared to give a higher dividend.
The government wants the private sector to invest their surplus cash in order to reverse investment cycle in the economy.
The investment rate in the economy stood as high as 38.1 per cent of GDP in the pre-crisis period of 2007-08. From there on, it fell 34.3 per cent in the crisis period of 2008-09. However, it again improved to 36.9 per cent the next year, on a heavy dose of stimulus given by the government.
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