₹58,378 Crores! Govt Set To Open Taps On Additional Welfare Spending With 2024 In Mind

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.