Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed capital spending programmes with CPSE chiefs

Highlights State-owned firms to clear vendors' overdue by October 15

Government asks firms to submit spending plans for next 4 quarters

A portal to be set up to enable service providers to track bills/payments

The government on Saturday set October 15 as the deadline for central public sector undertakings (PSUs) to clear overdue payments to vendors and contractors as it looks to lift economic growth from a six-year low by boosting expenditure. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who reviewed capital spending programmes with chiefs of central public sector enterprises, said state-owned companies have been asked to set up a portal by October 15 to enable service providers, vendors and contractors to track bills and payments so that the liquidity crunch is mitigated.

Also, public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been asked to detail the lifespan of arbitrations that lock payments after disputes with vendors and contractors, she said.

The Finance Minister also said the state-owned firms have been asked to submit their spending plans for the next four quarters.

Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said 34 central public sector companies have already spent Rs 48,077 crore till August and have detailed spending of another Rs 50,159 crore till December 2019. Another Rs 54,700 crore would be spent in the January-March quarter.

Expenditure Secretary Girish Chandra Murmu said the capital expenditure of all the 242 public sector companies will be over Rs 4 lakh crore.