Govt seeks House nod for additional expenditure

The Union government today sought Parliament approval for an additional cash outgo of Rs 1,05,613 crore to meet the extra financial liabilities expected to arise during the ongoing fiscal year.

This net cash outgo is part of the Rs 2,37,286 crore additional expenditure for which the government has sought Parliamentary approval in the first batch of supplementary demands for grants in 2008-09, tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister P Chidambaram today.

The additional money will be used to meet expenditure towards the increased salaries of central government employees due to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission award, the farm debt waiver and relief scheme, enhanced allocation towards rural employment schemes and the fertiliser subsidies among others.

Of the total gross additional expenditure of Rs 2,37,286 crore, the government expects savings of ministries and departments, and enhanced receipts or recoveries to aggregate to Rs 1,31,672 crore.

The demands for grants is scheduled to be approved by Parliament this week before it is adjourned sine-die on October 24.

The government usually submits three supplementary demands for grants for Parliament approval during a fiscal year, with the third and last coming every March.

The additional expenditure being incurred by the government includes Rs 2,913 crore towards capital payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for India’s quota increase.

Of the total additional cash expenditure, Rs 88,532 crore will be towards non-Plan expenditure and Rs 17,082 crore as additional allotment for programmes that had a mention in the Union Budget for 2008-09.

The current demand for additional cash expenditure by the government is about 15 per cent of the total expenditure estimate of Rs 7,50,884 crore in the 2008-09 Budget.