Major PSUs line up Rs 2.78 lakh cr capex next fiscal

Major central public sector undertakings (PSUs) have earmarked a whopping capital expenditure of Rs 2.78 lakh crore in the next fiscal, with petroleum and power companies lining up Rs 1.20 lakh crore investment.

The PSUs in the telecom and road transport sectors would also be among the major spenders in the next financial year, as per the roadmap listed in the Union Budget 2010-11.

The other areas where the PSUs will be aggressively investing include steel, shipping and urban development.

Among the oil firms, exploration behemoth Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has chalked out plans to spend the maximum with an allocation of Rs 26,523 crore followed by Rs 12,823 crore by Indian Oil Corp and Rs 8,662 crore by ONGC Videsh.

The oil firms, in all propose to spend Rs 69,457 crore in 2010-11.

As per the revised estimates, their expenditure was at Rs 59,053 crore in 2009-10 against the Budget estimates of Rs 57,475 crore.

In the power sector, the planned expenditure by PSUs is pegged at Rs 50,947 crore for FY11 against the revised estimate of Rs 38,675 crore in the current fiscal.

The power generation firm NTPC has lined up the maximum capital expenditure of Rs 22,350 crore, up over 50 per cent from the revised estimates of the current fiscal.

In the urban development segment, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) proposes to spend over Rs 4,100 crore followed by Chennai metro and Bangalore metro rail projects.

The state-owned telecom major BSNL will spend close to Rs 15,000 crore in the next fiscal, followed by MTNL which has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 1,204 crore.