CPSEs, 4 govt entities' capex up 25% in June

New Delhi: Capital spending by large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and four key government entities jumped 25% in June from a year before to ₹62,425 crore, lending crucial support to the economy when private investments are yet to see a broad-based rebound, said a senior official.

With this, CPSEs and the large government agencies-having annual capex targets of at least ₹100 crore each-spent ₹1.67 lakh crore in April-June, up 15% from a year earlier, he said.

Apart from CPSEs, the data covered Railway Board, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Damodar Valley Corporation.


Public capex, including that by CPSEs, is expected to serve as a buffer against risks to private investments and broader economic growth stemming from global tariff uncertainty and tighter financial conditions.

The intended capex of private players is expected to decline to ₹4.9 lakh crore in this fiscal from ₹6.6 lakh crore in 2024-25, according to the first round of the Forward-Looking Survey on Private Sector Capex Investment released by the statistics ministry on April 29.

In such times, public capex, including that by CPSEs and the central government, will serve as a buffer against risks to economic growth from external headwinds.

Railways top spender

In the June quarter, the top five spenders were the Railway Board (₹61,935 crore), NHAI (₹35,523 crore), NTPC (₹8,311 crore), ONGC (₹8,262 crore) and Indian Oil Corporation (₹7,524 crore), showed the latest finance ministry data.

These CPSEs and the four government entities have set a total capex target of ₹7.85 lakh crore for 2025-26.

For its part, the Centre, too, has sharply raised its capital spending this fiscal. Its capex jumped 54% in April-May to ₹2.21 lakh crore, albeit on a favourable base.

Still, it was about a fifth of the FY26 target of ₹11.21 lakh crore and 32% higher than the level seen in the first two months of FY24 (pre-election year).

The International Monetary Fund expects India to remain the world's fastest-growing major economy over the next two years, with rates of expansion forecast at 6.2% for FY26 and 6.3% for FY27, more than double the global averages.