Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday exhorted large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to exceed their planned capital expenditure (capex) target for 2020-21 by March to accelerate economic growth hit by Covid-19.

She held a virtual meeting with secretaries of power, mines and atomic energy along with the chairman and managing directors (CMDs) of 10 CPSEs, belonging to these ministries, an official statement said.

This was the fifth in the ongoing series of meetings that the finance minister is having with various stakeholders to boost economic growth amid the pandemic.

While reviewing the performance of the CPSEs, Sitharaman said the capex by CPSEs is a critical driver of economic growth and needs to be scaled up in financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22.