The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) under India’s steel ministry have spent 42 per cent of their FY24 capex targets within the first half (April-September), a review by the ministry shows. The CPSEs have exceeded their six-month capex target by 22-odd per cent.
Against an FY24 budget estimate of Rs 10,300.85 crore, CPSEs deployed Rs 4,315.06 crore till September-end as capex. As per the ministry’s plan, at least a third of the budget estimate, that is Rs 3,540 crore, was to be spent by September.
“So CPSEs under steel (ministry) spent Rs 775 crore more than their targeted capex, up 22 per cent over target numbers till September-end,” a ministry official said.
Major investments
Mining company NMDC Ltd and its steel making unit NSL (NMDC Steel Ltd) together invested the most in manufacturing capex.
NSL spent Rs 830 crore, which is 146 per cent above its full-year budget of Rs 570 crore. Incidentally, the review shows that investments peaked in September, at Rs 456 crore, against the targeted Rs 142 crore, around the time the steel mill was commissioned and production began.
NMDC, meanwhile, spent 55 per cent of the budgeted capex within the first half, namely Rs 899 crore out of Rs 1,630 crore. The H1 targeted capex was Rs 418 crore, and investments exceeded it by 115 per cent, or Rs 481 crore, the review documents accessed by businessline said.
In September, the last month reviewed by the ministry, additional capex was Rs 149 crore (Rs 242 crore, against a target of Rs 93 crore).
Target vs actual spending
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) utilised 30-odd per cent, or around Rs 2,080 crore, of its targeted Rs 6,800 crore capex till September-end. The difference against the H1 targeted capex (Rs 2,186 crore) was Rs 106 crore or about 5 per cent. The gap between targeted capex and actual spending widened in September to 11 per cent.
Similarly, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) has utilised 42 per cent of its budgeted capex, or Rs 290 crore, out of a budget estimate of Rs 683 crore. However, it fell 8 per cent short of its targeted six-month capex of Rs 316 crore. The September performance review found the steel-maker fall short of the investment target (for the month) by over 50 per cent.
Allied steel CPSEs
Mining companies like Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) and KIOCL, and other allied PSUs such as MECON, MSTC and FSNL spent 17–1,300 per cent of their full-year budgeted capex.
For instance, MOIL had almost no gap between its target and actual capex for the six-month period, at around Rs 92 crore.
In the case of KIOCL, against a six-month target of Rs 78 crore, icapex was Rs 50 crore, 35 per cent lower. On the other hand, MSTC had a budget of Rs 5 crore, against which the spending was Rs 66 crore (till September).