Centre seeks parliament nod for ₹1.29 lakh cr additional spend

The Central government on Wednesday tabled the first batch of supplementary demand for grants (2023-24) for additional spending worth ₹1,29,348.85 crore involving net cash outgo of ₹58,378.21 crore.

"The first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24 includes 79 Grants and 4 Appropriation. Approval of the Parliament is sought to authorise gross additional expenditure of ₹1,29,348.85 crore. Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to ₹58,378.21 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the ministries/departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to ₹70,968.15 crore," said the note on demand for grants tabled in the parliament.

The additional spending approval sought through the first supplementary demand is substantially lower than the approval for ₹4.3 lakh crore sought in the first supplementary demand for grants in FY23, indicating a fiscal caution being exercised by the government in a bid to keep a tight leash on the fiscal deficit.

Additional expenditure approval has been sought for meeting additional expenditure for Optical Fibre Control based network of Defence Services (₹1,434.36 crore) and) capital infusion in BSNL (₹11,850.17 crore). An amount of ₹13,500 has been sought for the department of fertiliser for nutrient based subsidy scheme. This includes recoupment of advance of ₹5,000 crore sanctioned from the Contingency Fund of India. 

Additional spending has also been sought for transfers to Jammu and Kashmir for meeting additional expenditure towards central assistance to meet resource gap worth ₹3,170 crore of the UT.