As many as 408 infrastructure projects, with investment size of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.80 lakh crore in May, 2023. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, out of 1,681 such projects, 408 reported cost overruns and as many as 814 projects were delayed.

As per the Ministry’s latest report, while the total original cost of implementation of the 1,681 projects was set at Rs 24,16,872.28 crore, their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 28,96,947.15 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,80,074.87 crore or 19.86 percent of the original cost.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till May 2023 was Rs 15,23,957.33 crore, and further, the number of delayed projects decreased to 607, as delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion.

It is also observed that out of the 814 delayed projects, 200 have overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 183 were delayed for 13-24 months, 300 projects for 25-60 months and 131 projects show more than 60 months’ delay. The average time overrun is 37.04 months.

The reasons cited by various project implementing agencies include delay in land acquisition and securing forest and environmental clearances, lack of infrastructure support and linkages, apart from delay in tie-up for project financing, change in scope, tendering, ordering among other reasons. State-wise lockdowns due to COVID-19  in 2020 and 2021 also caused a delay in implementation of these projects, as per the report.