Centre Extends Rs 50,571-Cr Capex To Various States

New Delhi: The Centre has released Rs50,571.42 crore to States as part of its ‘special assistance for capital investment’ scheme to step up expenditure in various development projects during the first eight months of the current financial year, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary has informed the Lok Sabha.

The minister stated in a written reply that as many as 23 of the 28 States, excluding Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Punjab and Telangana, availed of the interest-free facility provided by the Union government during the current financial year.

Among the States, the highest recipients of the facility were Uttar Pradesh (Rs7,007.93 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs5,074.94 crore), Bihar (Rs5,408.88 crore), Rajasthan (Rs4,552.01 crore), West Bengal (Rs4,416.23 crore), Assam (Rs3,181.97 crore), Odisha (Rs3,085.44 crore), Maharashtra (Rs2,617.70 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs2,616.27 crore) and Karnataka (Rs2,272.87 crore).

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has provided an allocation of Rs1.5 lakh crore for the Centre’s ‘special assistance for capital investment’ scheme for states in the Budget for 2024-25. The Centre’s Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment scheme provides 50-year interest-free loans to state governments to boost capital expenditure.