Finance ministry seeks expenditure proposals from ministries for supplementary demands for grants

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry on Tuesday invited proposals for funds from various departments and ministries for inclusion in the first batch of supplementary demands for grants for FY24, asking them to be realistic and objective in their assessment of additional requirements.

In an office memorandum, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) has asked them to submit supplementary proposals within seven days of the completion of their pre-budget meetings with the finance ministry, scheduled to take place between October 10 and November 14. The supplementary demands for grants will be placed before Parliament for approval in the next session.

“While processing proposals for supplementary grants, the grant controlling authority must invariably identify savings available within the grant so that the infructuous or inflated supplementary demands are weeded out and the eventuality of surrender after obtaining supplementary grant is avoided,” the DEA said. In cases where re-appropriations can be made without the requirement of supplementary grants as per the extant provisions, no supplementary proposal, including for a token amount, should be proposed, it said.


The Centre’s fiscal deficit in the first five months of this fiscal year hit 36% of the annual target, up from 32.6% a year before. Senior government officials have highlighted the Centre's plan to stick to its FY24 fiscal deficit target of 5.9% of gross domestic product, while maintaining that some programmes could see revisions in spending from the budgeted levels.