Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government will ensure that there are no outstanding payments

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that capital expenditure is on track and the government will ensure that there are no outstanding payments. Addressing the media after a meeting with secretaries and financial advisors of ministries, the Finance Minister said the government has asked ministries to submit their capital expenditure (capex) plans for the next four quarters. "There should be no overdue payment," Nirmala Sitharaman said. Out of the total overdue of Rs 60,000 crore from various ministries, Rs 40,000 crore has been cleared and the remaining amount will be cleared by the first week of October, she said.

Ms Sitharaman said that since August 23, 90 per cent of overdue GST refunds have been cleared.

The Finance Minister also said that the government will look at the fiscal deficit target at a later stage. "I am not focusing at fiscal deficit at present... Want government expenditure to take place," the Finance Minister said.

The remarks come at a time when the economy is struggling against its slowest pace of growth in more than six years and lakhs of job cuts across sectors.

The government has in the past one month announced a slew of measures - from withdrawal of higher taxes on foreign investors, a mega bank consolidation plan and a reduction in corporation taxes - to push consumption and growth.

Last Friday, in a major boost to incentivise large companies in order to push investments, the Finance Minister announced a reduction in the corporate income tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent, which led to a rally in the domestic equity markets.

In the first full-year budget of the second term of the Narendra Modi administration, the Finance Minister tightened the fiscal deficit target to 3.3 per cent from 3.4 per cent of GDP.

Big ticket expenditure by government triggers concerns about the fiscal deficit, which occurs when government expenditure exceeds revenue collections.