MoSPI Report Indicates Significant Cost Overruns and Delays in Indian Infrastructure Projects

21 May 2024

At least 449 infrastructure projects, each of which required an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, experienced a cost overrun exceeding Rs 5.01 lakh crore in March 2024, an official report said. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI), which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1873 projects, 449 have had cost overruns and 779 projects have been delayed.

"The total initial cost of implementing 1,873 projects was Rs 26,87,535.69 crore, and their estimated completion cost is likely to be Rs 31,88,859.02 crore, indicating an overall cost overrun of Rs 5,01,323.33 crore (18.65 percent of the original cost)," said the ministry's latest report for March 2024.

According to the report, till March 2024, the expenditure on these projects was Rs 17,11,648.99 crore, which is 53.68 percent of the estimated cost of the projects. However, if the delay is calculated based on the latest schedule of completion, the number of delayed projects will come down to 567, it further said.