Government Seeks Rs 78,000 Crore Outgo In Second Supplementary Demand For Grants

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought the Parliament's approval for a second supplementary spending allocation of Rs 78,673 crore for fiscal 2024, out of a gross additional spend of Rs 2 lakh crore.

The key areas of spending for which the ministry is seeking additional funds include servicing demand under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarentee Act, outlay towards higher education, food subsidy and defence pay and allowances.

The second batch of supplementary demands for grants for FY24 includes 71 grants and one appropriation.

The parliament's approval was sought to authorise gross additional expenditure of Rs 2,00,299.54 crore, according to the demand for grants statement that was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday. "Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to Rs 78,672.92 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the ministries/departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to Rs 1,21,625.40 crore," it said.

The government has also provisioned for a token amount of Rs 122 lakh, with Rs 1 lakh for each item of expenditure, to enable the re-appropriation of savings in cases of new services or new instruments of service.

The first batch of supplementary demand for grants was tabled in December 2023, seeking a nod for 79 grants and four appropriations, with a net outgo of Rs 58,378 crore of the gross additional spend of Rs 1.29 lakh crore.

Ahead of the interim budget on Feb. 1, economists had expected that subsidies, particularly for food, and the MGNREGA scheme would necessitate additional spending.

• Transfers to the Employment Guarantee fund (under the MGNREGA scheme) amounting to Rs 6,000 crore and grants for the creation of capital assets under the scheme for Rs 4,843 crore, bring the total outgo under this head to Rs 10,798 crore.

• Higher education, particularly transfers to 'Madhyamik and Uchchatar Shiksha Kosh' come up to Rs 12,500 crore.

• Expenditure towards subsidies payable to Food Corp. of India and state governments for foodgrain transactions under PMGKAY at Rs 9,231 crore.

• Pay and allowances towards defence personnel, including for army forces and auxiliary forces are said to entail a cash outgo of Rs 9,162.36 crore.

• Transfer to Senior Citizen Welfare Fund of Rs 5,000 crore.

• Defence pension and retirement benefits at Rs 3,890 crore.