Desist from spending on festival gifts, Finance Ministry tells CPSEs

The Finance Ministry has asked CPSEs to discontinue the practice of spending on Diwali and festive gifts to ensure judicious utilisation of public resources and fiscal discipline

Reduced GST levies may infuse cheer into this year’s festive season, but for some usual recipients of mithai hampers, handicrafts and other bulk-purchased gift items, it may be a time of just good wishes marked by austere restraint.

 

The reason: The Finance Ministry has asked chief executives of all central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to desist from purchasing gifts on the occasion of Diwali and other upcoming festivals.

 

In a missive sent to each CPSE’s CEO on Wednesday, the ministry cited the need to ensure judicious utilisation of public resources and asked them to stop the “prevailing practice” of spending on gifts. The communiqué was also shared with the secretaries of CPSEs’ respective administrative ministries “with a request to ensure compliance” with the directive.

 

 

While the Finance Ministry lays down expenditure management or austerity measures from time to time, this is perhaps the first such directive since September 2020, when the pandemic triggered fiscal stress. At the time, all government departments and organisations under their watch were instructed to stop printing calendars, diaries, festive greeting cards and coffee table books. 

 

The directive was subsequently relaxed in December 2022, when printing calendars was allowed again. The latest diktat, which an official said is more of an “advisory” to public sector firms, is nuanced compared to past austerity measures as it focuses only on government-owned enterprises, leaving out autonomous bodies and other organisations under various ministries.

 

“It has been noticed that there is a prevailing practice of incurring expenditure on gifts on the occasion of Diwali and other festivals… In the interest of economy and judicious utilisation of public resources, it is imperative that such expenditure is discontinued,” the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) in the Finance Ministry said in its letter to CPSEs’ top brass.

 

“Accordingly, all the CPSEs are requested not to incur expenditure on gifts, etc. for any festival. I am directed to convey that all concerned are requested to ensure compliance with these instructions,” the DPE added. The missive was also shared with the Secretary, Department of Expenditure, in the Finance Ministry.