The Indian Government has said that it has provided Rs 596.39 crore as viability gap funding (VGF) for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in 2014-15, which was least in previous three financial years, PTI reported.

Under the VGF scheme, government provides financial support to PPP projects in infrastructure sectors, including airport, railways, seaports, roads, power, soil testing labs and special economic zones, with a view to make them commercially viable.

As per PTI report, VGF of up to 20 per cent of total project cost is provided under the scheme and the government or statutory authority that owns the project may provide additional grants out of its budget up to a further 20 per cent of the total project cost.

The total project cost of PPP projects which got the VGF of Rs 596.39 crore was Rs 3,595.93 crore in 2014-15. The PPP projects with a total cost of Rs 17,207.62 crores got approval for VGF support of Rs 2,534.99 crore in 2013-14.