Lok Sabha to Approve Extra Rs 78,673 Cr Govt Spending

The Lok Sabha is expected to approve an extra spending of Rs 78,673 crore for the current fiscal year (FY24), as part of the second and final batch of supplementary demands for grants. The additional expenditure will be mainly used for the rural employment scheme MGNREGA, fertiliser subsidy, food and public distribution, and petroleum and natural gas.

According to the document tabled in the lower house on Wednesday, the gross additional spending sought by the government is over Rs 1.29 lakh crore, of which Rs 70,968 crore would be matched by savings and receipts. The net cash outgo would be Rs 58,400 crore, plus Rs 20,273 crore for repayment of debt.

The major items of additional spending include:

• Rs 14,524 crore for the Ministry of Rural Development towards MGNREGA, which provides 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year to every rural household.
• Rs 13,351 crore for the Department of Fertilisers towards fertiliser subsidy, which is given to farmers to reduce the cost of agricultural inputs and increase farm productivity.
• Rs 9,200 crore for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas towards subsidy on LPG cylinders for domestic consumers under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and kerosene under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
• Rs 7,000 crore for the Department of Food and Public Distribution towards food subsidy, which is given to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state governments for procuring and distributing food grains at subsidised rates under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

The government has said that despite the additional outgo, it expects to meet its FY24 fiscal deficit target of 5.9% of GDP, as revenue collections are expected to remain robust. The government had budgeted a total expenditure of Rs 45 lakh crore and a revenue receipt of Rs 26.3 lakh crore for FY24.

The supplementary demands for grants are expected to be passed by the Lok Sabha without much debate, as the opposition parties have been protesting over various issues, including the Adani group’s alleged involvement in illegal mining and land acquisition