Indian government seeks parliament nod for $1.7 billion gross extra spending

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian government on Tuesday sought parliament approval for a gross 116.98 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) in extra spending, which includes capital infusion in national carrier Air India, in the current fiscal year.

In a statement tabled in the lower house of parliament, the government said net extra spending will only be 59.51 billion rupees ($867.37 million), as the remainder would be funded from savings.

The extra spending is on top of the budgeted 24.42 trillion rupees ($355.87 billion) spending announced for the 2018/19 fiscal year in February, compared with 21.43 trillion rupees spending in the previous fiscal year.

($1 = 68.6100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nigam Prusty; Writing by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon)