Govt seeks nod to spend additional Rs 1.03 lakh cr

Jaitley sought Rs 38 cr for payment against international arbitration for cases like those involving Vodafone's tax dispute

The government, on Monday, sought Parliament’s approval for additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore.

Of this Rs 20,948 crore will be net cash outgo and the rest will be gross additional expenditure, to be matched by savings and enhanced revenue.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the 'supplementary demand for grants' and sought an additional Rs 5,000 crore for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

He also sought Rs 40,000 crore in a ways and means advance to the Food Corporation of India for procurement of grain and Rs  31,958 crore for the ministry of road transport and highways. Most of the new demands arose due to reclassification and might not require massive cash outflow.

Interestingly, Jaitley also sought Rs 38 crore for payment against international arbitration for cases like those involving Vodafone's tax dispute. There was, however, no request for bank recapitalisation.

For NREGS, the budgeted estimate for 2016-17 is Rs 38,500 crore. The Centre's expenditure for the flagship scheme in 2015-16 was Rs 43,848 crore, about 22 per cent more than the Rs 36,025 crore incurred the previous financial year. The rural development ministry said Rs 56,000 crore was incurred on the scheme in 2015-16 but Rs 12,152 crore of this was paid in 2016-17 as arrears.

According to sources, the rural ministry had actually sought Rs 15,000 crore to be included in the demand for grants.

This means there could be requests for additional sums in the next two demands for grants for this year.

Jaitley also sought approval for additional assistance of Rs 2,000 crore to states affected by natural calamities under the National Disaster Response Fund.