NEW DELHI: The road transport and railway ministries have achieved a record capital expenditure utilisation of 63% and 56.5%, respectively, during the first half of the current financial year. The combined capex of the two ministries by Sept end was over Rs 3.1 lakh crore, as against the budgetary allocation of Rs 5.2 lakh crore for FY26.The road and railway sectors account for over 50% of the capex allocation of Rs 11.2 lakh crore for all sectors for the current financial year. Officials in the road transport ministry said the utilisation of capex this year is the highest ever in its history and has exceeded the target set for the first six months. So far, the ministry has spent around Rs 1.7 lakh crore out of the total allocation of Rs 2.7 lakh crore. In the corresponding period last year, the capex stood at Rs 1.4 lakh crore. Sources said that with better utilisation of the allocated budget, there may be scope for increasing the allocation at a later stage when Budget Estimates are revised.In case of the railway ministry, the spending on account of capex by Sept end stood at Rs 1.4 lakh crore. The capex earmarked for the entire 2025-26 is Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Officials said the national transporter has spent Rs 22,286 crore on safety-related works in the past six months, out of the Rs 39,456 crore earmarked for FY26. This includes automatic train protection technology-KAVACH related works, track renewals, road over bridges, bridges and level crossings.Officials said the maximum expenditure has been incurred under the capacity augmentation head, which includes new lines, doubling, gauge conversion, electrification and metropolitan transport.
At over Rs 3.1 lakh crore, road & railway ministries see record capex in April-September
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