Cost and time overruns continue to plague Central Sector projects. Evaluate the role of real-time digital monitoring platforms like PAIMANA.

MoSPI's August 2026 Flash Report tracks 1,731 ongoing Central Sector projects (₹150 crore and above) worth ₹33.60 lakh crore, carrying a cumulative cost overrun of about ₹2.88 lakh crore [1]. PAIMANA, launched in September 2025 to replace OCMS-2006 [2], digitises this oversight — a necessary corrective, but not by itself a cure.

The persisting problem

• Delayed central projects averaged a time overrun of about 35 months — nearly three years per project [3].
• The Standing Committee on Energy (2021) found 30 thermal projects with 148 years of cumulative delay and ₹41,100 crore of extra cost; 12 hydro projects added over 100 years and ₹31,530 crore [4].
• Causes lie largely outside the executing ministry: land acquisition, forest and environment clearances, resettlement, utility shifting and contract disputes [5].

Where PAIMANA adds value

• Early detection: financial and physical progress are tracked project-wise; 647 projects (38%) crossed 80% physical progress against only 312 (18%) financially [1], flagging mismatches for review.
• Data integrity: API integration with DPIIT's IPMP auto-updates nearly 60% of projects, cutting manual error and lag [2].
• Accountability: a common dashboard across 17 ministries feeds PRAGATI, the Prime Minister's video-conference review with States and districts [5].
• It answers a parliamentary demand — the Energy Committee itself sought IT-based monitoring [4].

Where it falls short

• Monitoring records a stalled project; it cannot deliver land, clearances or a court order [5].
• Data is largely self-reported by the agency being judged, which also decides when a project is "revised" rather than "delayed" [2].
• Nearly two decades of OCMS monitoring did not prevent these overruns [2].

PAIMANA is therefore an enabler of transparency rather than a solution to delay. Its promise will be realised when monthly releases publish time and cost overrun alongside spending, when single-window clearance replaces department-by-department chasing [4], and when land and clearances precede contract award — converting real-time visibility into real-time correction.