Expenditure on social sector: Turning social safety nets into trampolines

A look back at welfare spending is the first step to understanding Covid impact absorption and darning holes, if any, in the welfare fabric

The Government of India’s (GoI’s) expenditure on the social sector as a proportion of total expenditure has remained relatively static.

In 2009–10, GoI spent 21 per cent of its total expenditure on the social sector. This decreased marginally to 20 per cent in 2019–20.

In 2009–10, GoI spent 14 per cent of its expenditure on subsidies, which increased to 18 per cent in 2012–13.

Subsidies as a share of total expenditure started declining after 2014–15, from 16 per cent to 9 per cent in 2019–20.

Subsidies reached an all-time high in 2020–21, accounting for 20 per cent of total expenditure.