Where do numbers go: CAG, finance ministry spar over off-Budget financing

The issue has been flagged in audit reports by the CAG tabled in Parliament in February this year, as well as in its recent presentations to the 15th Finance Commission

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has informed the government that off-Budget liabilities such as raising of money by entities like IRFC, Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Food Corporation of India (FCI) and special banking arrangements for fertiliser companies, totaling up to Rs 3 trillion, should be included in Budget numbers. 

The numbers, once added to the fiscal deficit, expand it close to 6 per cent as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019-20, instead of 3.3 per cent, as shown by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget papers tabled in Parliament on July 5. 

The issue has been flagged in