Centre seeks Parliament nod for ₹1.29 trillion gross additional spending in FY24
₹1.29 trillion for FY24. In the first batch of supplementary demand for grants, the government sought approval to spend a net ₹583.78 billion in the current fiscal, which involves a cash outgo.
The gross spending involves reshuffling expenses among various central ministries and departments. The demand for grants was tabled in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, The Centre also sought permission to spend ₹709.68 billion, which can be met through enhanced receipts and savings under various heads.
The Narendra Modi government said it will spend an additional ₹133.51 billion for fertilizer subsidies and ₹145.24 billion for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). In the FY2024 budget, the government had allocated ₹1.75 trillion for fertilizer subsidies, after this bill surged to a record high of ₹2.55 lakh crore during FY 2023.
Mint had on 7 November reported, quoting experts from rating agencies, that India’s fertilizer subsidy bill may touch ₹2 trillion this financial year as higher consumption and costlier natural gas could drive it past initial estimates of ₹1.75 trillion. In the first six months of FY2024, the fertilizer subsidy bill had crossed 63% of the full-year allocation.
During September, the Centre said it will borrow ₹6.55 trillion for the second half of the ongoing financial year or 42.45% of its gross market borrowing of ₹15.43 trillion for FY2024, leaving its borrowing plans unchanged for the ongoing fiscal. So far, the Centre has maintained it will meet the ongoing year's fiscal deficit target comfortably on the back of robust tax proceeds, higher non-tax revenues, including dividends from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and state-run banks,
. Read more on livemint.com
