Public expenditure to go up by additional Rs 25,727 cr

The government today came out with the first batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha seeking to raise public expenditure by an additional Rs 25,725 crore during the current fiscal.

The important expenditure proposal include Rs 800 crore equity infusion into the ailing National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), the state-owned company which operates Air India, according to the supplementary demands tabled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the House.

Besides providing funds to NACIL, the government has earmarked additional money towards Commonwealth Games, National Calamity Contingency Fund, metro projects and food and fertiliser subsidies.

Although the government is seeking Parliament's nod to raise public expenditure by Rs 30,943 crore during 2009-10, the net impact would be Rs 25,725 crore as Rs 5,217 crore would be met through savings.

The government comes out with several batches of supplementary demands for grants during the course of the financial year to modify expenditure proposals made in the budget and also seek Parliament's approval for incurring additional expenses not anticipated at the time of formulation of the budget.

For the current fiscal, the government in its budget in July had pegged the total expenditure at Rs 10.20 lakh crore, which will now go up marginally by Rs 25,725 crore.