Govt seeks Parliament’s nod for additional expenditure of Rs 6.28L cr

New Delhi, Feb. Feb 11 : The government on Thursday sought Parliament’s approval for an additional spending of Rs 6.28 lakh crore to meet its expenditure commitments made under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) to ensure speedy recovery of the economy, which has been badly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the second and final batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, which includes, among other things, a sum of Rs 3,04,557.83 crore required to meet the additional allocation of foodgrains under the PMGKY and the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package, and for the repayment of NSSF (national small savings fund) loan to the Food Corporation of India.
The supplementary demand for grant is an additional grant required to meet the required expenditure of the government over and above the amount for which parliamentary nod was taken earlier.
In September, Sitharaman had taken the Parliament’s approval for additional spending of Rs 2.35 lakh crore as part of the first supplementary demand for grant. Permission for higher expenditure now is on account of the government stimulus measures announced in phases last year to support faster economic recovery from a Covid hit economy.
The government has sought gross additional expenditure of Rs 6,28,379.99 crore, but the net cash outgo is expected to be Rs 4,12,653.48 crore as additional expenditure is matched by savings of the ministries/departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregating to Rs 2,15,725 crore.
Apart from higher expenditure needed for supporting foodgrain security for the poor and shifting borrowings on food procurement on to the Budget, a major portion of additional spending, about Rs 65,000 crore, will go towards ensuring increased supply of fertilisers to farmers to enable timely availability of fertilisers in the upcoming crop season.