Govt seeks parliament's approval for $15.4 billion extra spending

The government on Monday sought parliament's approval to spend an extra 1.03 trillion rupees ($15.43 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March 2017.

In a supplementary demand for grants laid before parliament by the finance ministry, the government said net cash outgo would be 209.48 billion rupees.

The additional expenditure includes 50 billion rupees for a rural jobs programme, about 42 billion for road construction and 20 billion rupees for disaster management.