The union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had declared that all the payments that are pending for services rendered, goods supplied and all the other work done for public sector units and government agencies by vendors and contractors will be cleared by the government by October 15.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: Payments which are pending for services rendered, goods supplied or any other work done for government agencies and the Public Sector Units to be cleared by October 15. pic.twitter.com/rvagI0IufM
— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2019
As the government plans to boost the economic growth, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set October 15 as the deadline for central public sector undertakings (PSUs) and the government to clear overdue payments to vendors and contractors. Sitharaman has asked the state-owned companies to set up a portal by October 15 to enable service providers, vendors and contractors to track bills and payments so that the liquidity crunch is lessened.
Besides, the finance minister said that the government has asked the public sector undertakings (PSUs) to detail the lifespan of arbitrations that lock payments after disputes with vendors and contractors. The Finance Minister also informed that the state-owned firms have been asked to submit their spending plans for the next four quarters.
“The intention is to ensure that no government department is sitting on their dues for the goods and services received by it from any vendor, MSMEs,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after meeting secretaries and financial advisors on Friday.
“The larger intention has been, the money should go where people have been waiting for a long time,” she said. “The other being money should really get going into the ground, literally get grounded and the projects should really get germinated and see progress within the next four quarters.”
According to Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar, 34 central public sector companies have already spent Rs.48,077 crore till August and have reported spending of another Rs.50,159 crore till December 2019. For the quarter January-March, companies have forecasted spending of Rs. 54,700 crore.
N Sitharaman had emphasised on the fact that the payment should be released before the festival season. Expenditure secretary G C Murmu said central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have already released payments of Rs 20,157 crore in the last three months.
