Govt seeks Parliament nod for additional spending of Rs 1.29 lakh crore

The government has sought Parliament approval for additional spending to the tune of Rs 1.29 lakh crore in the current financial year 2023-24.“Approval of the Parliament is sought to authorise gross additional expenditure of Rs 1,29,348.85 crore. Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to Rs 58,378.21 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the Ministries/Departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to Rs 70,968.15 crore,” said the first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24 tabled in Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.The additional expenditure is on account of food, fertilizer and fuel subsidies among others.As per the supplementary demands for grants, additional spending of Rs 13,350 crore is earmarked for fertilizer subsidy while approval of Rs 7,020 crore has been sought for food subsidy.The higher spending is unlikely to result in widening of fiscal deficit with the government’s revenue receipts remaining robust during the year so far.India’s fiscal deficit in April-October period of FY24 stood at Rs 8.04 lakh crore or 45% of the estimate for the whole year. The government has reiterated that it will achieve the fiscal deficit target for the current year which is projected at 5.9% of the GDP.