Ahead of 2024 contest, Centre seeks Parliament nod for Rs 1.29 lakh crore extra spending

Bengaluru: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Wednesday, tabled in Parliament the first supplementary demand for grants for the current fiscal year. In it, the Centre sought approval to spend an additional Rs 1.29 lakh crore, primarily due to an increase in outlay of subsidies and the flagship rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGA).

A supplementary demand is tabled by a government to seek legislative or parliamentary nod to spend more than the expenditure allocated in a Budget. Out of the Rs 1.29 lakh crore, Rs 58,378.21 crore will be the additional cash outgo, while Rs 70,968.15 crore will be through savings in various departments or additional sources of revenue, the Finance Ministry said.

Ahead of the 2024 general elections, the centre is seeking to spend an additional Rs 13,351.8 crore on the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGA), as per the supplementary demand documents tabled on Wednesday. This is over and above the Rs 60,000 crore allocated for the current financial year (FY24) in the 2023 Union Budget.

The increased allocation comes on back of uneven monsoon which led to drought-like conditions in many parts of the country. While the monsoon this year was overall 5.6% below the long term average, in some regions it was deficient by as much as 60%.

For fertilizer subsidies, the centre has sought approval to spend an additional Rs 13,350.81 crore, over and above the budgeted outlay of Rs 1.75 lakh crore, on back of a sharp rise in international prices. In October, the Union Cabinet approved Rs 22,303 crore for nutrient-based fertiliser subsidy (NBS) for the 2023-24 Rabi season that runs from October 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.

For food subsidy, the centre is seeking approval to spend an additional Rs 5,589 crore so far, over and above the budgeted Rs 1.97 lakh crore for the year. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme, which provides free foodgrain to 81 crore people, by a further five years, over which it will cost the exchequer Rs 11.8 lakh crore.

For petroleum subsidies, Rs 9,196.5 crore extra is being sought, mostly to provide free LPG connections to poor households. The budgeted target for the year was Rs 2,257 crore.