NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday sought approval of Parliament for gross additional spending of Rs 1.29 trillion including Rs 14,524 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Rs 13,351 crore for fertiliser subsidy.
“Approval of 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,” the government in a Bill tabled in Lok Sabha.
However, the net additional cash outgo is unlikely to lead to the government missing the fiscal deficit target of 5.9% of GDP in FY24 as savings on many other heads are not captured in the supplementary grant demand and revenues are expected to exceed the budget target.
The government has provided Rs 14,524 crore for the MGNREGS including Rs 10,000 crore for recoupment of advance taken from Contingency Fund of India. The additional money will largely cover the expenditures already incurred in the scheme so far. The Centre will likely provide some additional funds in February depending on the demand for works under the scheme. In the Budget Estimate for Fy24, the Centre had provided Rs 60,000 crore for the jobs programme in view of the rampant corruption in the programme.
To cover the additional spending due to the rise in global commodity prices, the Centre has provided an additional Rs 13,351 crore for the Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme. This includes the recoupment of an advance of Rs 5,000 crore sanctioned from the Contingency Fund of India. The fertiliser subsidy BEFY24 was Rs 1.75 trillion.
With the extension of Rs 200 subsidy/LPG cylinder and LPG connection to poor households, the Centre has provided an additional Rs 9,200 crore for fuel subsidy.
The government has made an additional provision of Rs 5,589 crore towards food subsidy largely to cover extra spending on the free grains scheme.
For capital infusion, an allocation of Rs 8,310 crore has been made for BSNL, Rs 1,100 crore for Regional Rural Banks and Rs 500 crore for Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI).
Source: The Financial Express
