Govt seeks House nod for additional spending of over Rs 21,000 crore in current fiscal

The Supplementary Demand for Grants 2019-20, tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Thursday, allocated Rs 20.40 crore for “Other Charges for upkeep of Shrines, Temples etc. Protection and upkeep of Ayodhya.”

The Demand for Grants said Rs 8,820.62 as share of the 14th Finance Commission have been allocated to the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.

The government sought approval to spend an additional gross amount of Rs 21,246.16 crore in the current financial year, with net cash outgo at Rs 18,995.51 crore, with over 40 per cent of the additional gross amount sought as grants for the newly formed UTs.

The Rs 8,820.62 crore funds as grants in lieu of the erstwhile state’s share of the 14th Finance Commission Award includes the share of revenue deficit grant (Rs 5892.50 crore), local body grant (Rs 725 crore) and SDRF (Rs 139.50 crore), and state share of net proceeds of taxes for November and December (Rs 2063.62 crore).

An amount of Rs 4,557 crore will be infused in IDBI Bank through recapitalisation bonds, while Rs 2,500 crore will be used for recapitalsation of state-owned insurance companies. “Taking into account the savings available within the same section of the Grant, this will entail a cash outgo of Rs 2,500 crore for recapitalization of insurance companies,” it stated.

The Finance Minister sought Rs 2,000 crore to meet additional expenditure towards payment of pay and allowance of armed forces and another Rs 666 crore for meeting expenditure of Department of Space.

Rs 3,387.46 crore has been provided in the supplementary demands for grants for meeting expenditure towards salaries and cost of ration of the police. About Rs 1,000 crore has been sought for providing additional funds under the scheme for free LPG connection to poor households.

The Union Budget presented in July for this financial year had estimated total Rs 27.86 lakh crore as government expenditure, excluding public sector company expenses.