This is because the government looks to maintain the pace of capital and infrastructure projects in a bid to soften the economic blow from the pandemic.
According to an official statement, Sitharaman held a video conference with secretaries of the ministries of petroleum and natural gas and ministry of coal, as well as the 14 PSUs under these departments.
“This was the fourth in the ongoing series of meetings that the finance minister is having with various stakeholders to accelerate the economic growth in the background of Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement said.
The combined capex target for the 14 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) for FY21 is Rs 1.15 trillion. Sitharaman asked the concerned secretaries to closely monitor their performance and ensure they spend 75 per cent of their capex by the end of the third quarter of the current fiscal.
Till the first half of the year (H1), these PSUs spent around Rs 37,423 crore, which was just 32 per cent. In FY 2019-20, against a capex target of Rs 1.11 trillion for the 14 CPSEs, they spent nearly Rs 1.16 trillion or nearly 104 per cent, the statement said.
FM Sitharaman expounded that more co-ordinated efforts are required at the levels of secretary of concerned ministries and heads of CPSEs to achieve Capex targets.
While mentioning the significant role of CPSEs in giving a push to the growth of the Indian economy, the Finance Minister encouraged the CPSEs to perform better to achieve their targets and to ensure that the capital outlay for FY 2020-21 is spent properly and within time. She further said that better performance of CPSEs can help the economy in a big way to recover from the impact of Covid-19.
 "Nirmala Sitharaman")