High public expenditure in 2008-09 had contributed to the GDP expanding by 6.7% despite the global economic recession. Encouraged, the government was looking to repeat its performance in 2009-10 with at least Rs 6 lakh crore riding on more than 950 central infrastructure projects above Rs 20 crore.

However, an appraisal made by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation indicated that at least 470 of the 950 projects were delayed and could lead to a cost overrun of more than 14% or anything above Rs 40,000 crore.

Many of these projects are stuck for various reasons including land acquisition, pending environmental clearances and in some cases due to cancellation of the contract itself. The total cost of the delayed projects could be anywhere above Rs 3 lakh crore, according to an estimate.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his mid-year economic review, had estimated that GDP would grow by at least 7.75% in the 2009-10 fiscal. His optimism of higher growth was based on the government's enhanced spending on infrastructure and social sector schemes, coupled with better performance of the industry.

Source: Times Of India `50% central infra projects delayed'