Large public sector companies have spent a little over ₹50,200 crore towards capital expenditure in April alone, which is 6.46 per cent of their full fiscal target of ₹7.77 lakh crore, an official said.

The pace albeit is slower than ₹54,177 crore capex spent in April 2023, about 7.3 per cent of the full year budget target of ₹7.42 lakh crore.

“The capex spending will pick up going forward. Also, the numbers for April are still provisional and will go up in the revised final numbers,” the official said.

The capital expenditure during the first month of 2024-25 fiscal was driven by railways, road, and oil and gas sectors.

Indian Railways and sector PSUs spent ₹26,641 crore in April, followed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at ₹6,645 crore.

Among oil and gas sector PSUs, ONGC incurred capex of ₹2,318 crore, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) ₹2,423 crore in the first month of the current financial year.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd spent ₹1,155 crore and ₹417 crore, respectively, in April.

Power sector PSU NTPC spent ₹2,083 crore.

The finance ministry tracks capital expenditure of public sector undertakings (PSUs) that have an annual investment target of over ₹100 crore.

The interim budget for 2024-25 set a cumulative capital expenditure target of ₹9.01 lakh crore for all public sector undertakings.