Saturday (September 28): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today set October 15 as the deadline for CPSUs (Central Public Sector Undertakings) to clear overdue payments of contractors and vendors in a bid to boost growth with spending push, according to a report by PTI.
The state-owned companies have been asked to set up a portal by October 15 where service providers, vendors and contractors can track bills and payments.
On Friday, Sitharaman had asked 21 ministries to provide detailed capital expenditure plans (capex) to ensure the government departments cleared their outstanding dues.
Also, details of the arbitrations that lock payments after disputes with vendors and contractors will be monitored and they have been asked to submit their spending plans for the next four quarters.
On Thursday the finance minister held meeting with top officials of private banks and financial institutions in New Delhi. She said that the private sector banks were not facing any liquidity crisis.
“On the whole, it was very tonic-like meeting, where I heard a lot of positive things. Not one voice said there was a concern, shortfall of demand. None of them voiced liquidity concerns,” she added.
“As many as 34 CPSUs have already spent Rs 48,077 crore till August and have detailed spending of another Rs 50,159 crore till December 2019. Another Rs 54,700 crore would be spent in the January-March quarter,” Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said.
