The Ministry of Finance has approved capital projects worth Rs 2,903.80 crore in eight states. The capital will be provided to states under the scheme entitled ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure for 2021-22’ to give timely stimulus to economic recovery.
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Sikkim, and Telangana will be initially benefitted from the scheme under which special assistance is being provided in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan up to an overall sum not exceeding Rs 15,000 crore during the financial year 2021-22. The ministry has also released an amount of Rs 1,393.83 crore to these states, it informed on September 25.
“In view of a higher multiplier effect of capital expenditure and to provide the much-needed resources to the State in the wake of 2nd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheme ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure for 2021-22' was launched on 29th April 2021. Under the scheme, special assistance is being provided to the State Governments in the form of 50-year interest-free loans up to an overall sum not exceeding Rs. 15,000 crores during the financial year 2021-22,” the ministry said in a statement released on the day.
The scheme has been divided into three parts. Under the first part, about Rs, 2,600 crores will be provided to northeast and hill states. Of this, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand will get Rs 400 crore each while the rest in this group have been allocated Rs 200 crore each. In the second part, a number of Rs 7,400 crore has been allotted for the rest of the states in proportion to their share of central taxes as per the award of the 15th Finance Commission for FY22.
Under the third part, states will be provided additional funds under the scheme over and above their allocation under Part-I or Part-II. An amount of Rs.5,000 crore is allocated for this part of the scheme. For this part, there is no State-specific allocation and funds will be provided on a “First-come First-served basis”.