New Delhi: In a move to boost the infrastructure sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced that an inter-ministerial Task Force is being formed by the Department of Economic Affairs to fully push in investment to the amount of Rs 100 lakh crore in developing modern infrastructure over the next 5 years.
“An inter-ministerial task force is being formed by the Department of Economic Affairs to finalise the pipeline of infrastructure projects. The above initiative is expected to boost growth and create jobs. These projects will be monitored actively to accelerate capital expenditure and investment in the economy,” she said.
Further, the Finance Minister also announced that delayed payments from the government or Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) will be monitored by the Department of Expenditure. The performance of the same will be reviewed by Cabinet Secretariat.
“Nearly Rs 30,000 crore of payments have been released so far. This means money will actually go to hands of those who are waiting for it. Money will now not get locked up. Liquidity should reach everyone,” she said.
The Finance Minister added that this process is expected to see a fast development with the Cabinet Secretariat monitoring the Department of expenditure. “All the dues are expected to be cleared up, expect those stuck in litigation.”
In a major move for the corporate sector, it has also been decided that after arbitration, 75 per cent of the arbitration award will be released.
“This may be an old decision. It may be something which has existed from Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time. It benefited industries for some time and reached stagnation later. We are trying to revive it and through it we are assuring the corporate sector that the amount will be released. When it reached a stagnation, banks, who were risk covers, didn’t want to cover for the delayed period after the arbitration. The interest was mounting. It was double of what was otherwise due to them and because of this Banks said we will not cover it,” she said.
Sitharaman said secretary finance and secretary will be working together with the RBI and other banks to ensure that the risk aversion based on the multiplying interest will be addressed.
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