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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its latest report said that as many as 346 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.46 lakh crore.  According to the Ministry, which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1,418 projects, 346 reported cost overruns and as many as 823 projects were delayed.

It mentioned that total original cost of implementation of the 1,418 projects was Rs 20,38,026.75 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 24,84,846.99 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,46,820.24 crore (21.92 per cent of original cost). The expenditure incurred on these projects till February 2023 is Rs 13,62,707.98 crore, which is 54.84 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, the report said the number of delayed projects decreases to 643 if delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion. Further, it stated that for 316 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. It noted that out of the 823 delayed projects, 172 have overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 171 have been delayed for 13-24 months, 355 projects for 25-60 months and 125 projects have been delayed for more than 60 months. The average time overrun in these 823 delayed projects was 38.63 months.