News Brief
₹58,378 Crores! Govt Set To Open Taps On Additional Welfare Spending With 2024 In Mind
Swarajya News Staff
Dec 07, 2023, 06:59 AM | Updated 06:59 AM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
On December 6, the government requested the Parliament's approval for an additional expenditure of ₹58,378 crore in the current fiscal year ending March 2024. A significant portion of this amount is intended for MGNREGA and fertiliser subsidies.
The government is seeking an increase in total expenditure of more than ₹1.29 lakh crore, with savings and receipts expected to cover ₹70,968 crore of this amount.
According to the Supplementary Demands for Grants presented in Parliament, the government is projected to increase its spending by an additional ₹58,378.21 crore in the ongoing fiscal year.
The extra costs encompass ₹13,351 crore for the fertiliser subsidy and roughly ₹7,000 crore for the expenditure of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.
The government has also requested the approval of Parliament for an additional expenditure of ₹9,200 crore by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, as well as ₹14,524 crore by the Ministry of Rural Development for MGNREGA.
The Ministry of External Affairs has total additional spending demands amounting to ₹20,000 crore. This sum will be offset by a decrease in expenditure exceeding ₹9,000 crore.
Aditi Nayar, the Chief Economist at Icra, was quoted by Indian Express as saying that the net cash outflow in the Supplementary Demand for Grants is manageable and could be balanced by savings from other departments.
She further added that this scenario does not indicate a potential risk of exceeding the fiscal deficit target. It's worth noting that for the entire fiscal year of 2023-24, the government has planned for the fiscal deficit to be ₹17.86 lakh crore or 5.9% of the GDP.
Furthermore, the fiscal deficit from April to October was 45.6% of the full-year budget estimate in the previous fiscal year.
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.
