The government on Saturday set October 15 as the deadline for central Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to clear overdue payments to vendors and contractors as it looks to lift economic growth from a six-year low by boosting expenditure.
Addressing a presser, Sitharaman said that a portal will be set up by the government for suppliers and contractors to track their due payments.
"A drive will be conducted between now and first week of October so that all requirements are met and payments are done before October 15," she said.
Sitharaman, who reviewed capital spending programmes with heads of central public sector enterprises, said state-owned companies have also been asked to set up a portal by October 15 where service providers, vendors and contractors can track bills and payments so that liquidity crunch is mitigated.
Earlier in the day, the finance minister met 32 CPSU heads to review their total capital expenditure in 2019-20 so far and plan for future capex in current fiscal.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the finance ministry and heads of PSUs like Oil India, NHAI, HAL, NHPC, CIL, Indian Oil, ONGC, Power Grid, NTPC, GAIL, HPCL, Hindustan Petroleum, among others.
Also, public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been asked to detail lifespan of arbitrations that lock payments after disputes with vendors and contractors, she said, adding the state-owned firms have also been asked to submit spending plans for the next four quarters.
Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said 34 central PSUs 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.
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