Centrally funded infra projects see 21% cost jump in Oct as overruns mount

Aggregate costs of centrally funded infrastructure projects jumped nearly 21 per cent in October as cost overruns pushed revised estimates to ₹30.8 trillion from ₹25.5 trillion across 820 ongoing projects. This reflects an absolute escalation of over ₹5.3 trillion, data from the latest Flash Report on Central Sector Infrastructure Projects by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (Mospi) showed.

 

The steepest cost escalation was reported in the Department of Water Resources, where revised costs are now more than double the original estimates, marking a 102 per cent increase and an overrun of ₹99,853.8 crore. The Department of Telecommunications followed with a sharp 79.9 per cent rise (₹1.22 trillion), while projects under the Ministry of Mines saw costs increase by 18.3 per cent (₹ 2,380.2 crore).

 

Among large infrastructure ministries (as per project count), the Ministry of Railways recorded a 17.8 per cent increase over original costs, while projects under Power, Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Steel registered escalations of 16.4 per cent, 15.8 per cent, and 15.7 per cent, respectively.

 

In contrast, only a handful of ministries, such as Higher Education and Sports, reported savings, with revised costs lower than original estimates by ₹66 crore (0.5 per cent decrease) and ₹295 crore (32.5 per cent decrease), respectively.