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The PSUs under the Steel Ministry have spent around 22 per cent of their reworked capex for the January-March period, till end-January, with SAIL having the highest shortfall between targetted capex and actual spends for the period.
According to a report, all the PSUs have spent around ₹1,205 crore in January or 85 per cent of their target capex of ₹1,418 crore. Cumulative capex across the Steel Ministry entities for Q4 FY23 is ₹5,545 crore.
SAIL’s shortfall
The report by the Ministry, accessed by businessline,said SAIL’s capex target for Q4 is ₹3,554 crore — this includes ₹1,133 crore of shortfall in spending till end-Q3.
The January capex target for the steelmaker was reworked at ₹830 crore, of which it spent ₹534 core or 64 per cent. But there was a shortfall of around ₹296 crore in spending, This has to be made up in March, the Ministry report said. So the targetted capex plan in February was ₹915 crore, while for March it was reworked to ₹2,105 crore.
Up to Q3, SAIL’s capex (actual) was ₹3,249 crore, or 74 per cent of the reworked target of ₹4,382 crore. The revised spending estimate for FY23 is ₹6,803 crore.
In a response to the Parliament, it was said some of the steelmaker’s ongoing projects worth ₹2,400 crore across its plants in Bhilai, Rourkela and Bokaro were facing delays. The projects involve modernisation of plants and addition, modernisation and replacement schemes. The delay is “mainly on account of poor performance by contractors or sub-contractors, poor mobilisation of resources by contractors, delay in placement of orders and supply of materials or equipment,” it was said.
Other PSUs
Performance of other PSUs under the Ministry are relatively better. For instance, NMDC spent ₹293 crore as capex in January — ₹17 crore above the targetted capex of ₹276 crore for the month. In February and March, the capex targets are set at ₹353 crore and ₹730 crore, respectively.
RINL spent 100 per cent of its targeted capex between April and December 2022 at ₹420 crore, while in January it spent ₹16 crore (against a targetted ₹63 crore). Its February and March capex targets now stand at ₹60 crore and ₹107 crore, respectively.
KIOCL has ramped up spending to ₹334.5 crore in January, against a target of ₹223 crore. The PSU had spent just 23 per cent of its capex target till December, but as per the Ministry report, its achievement in Jan was 108 per cent of the Q4 target.
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