Government seeks Parliament nod for Rs 18,594 crore additional spending

NEW DELHI: The government has sought Parliament's nod for additional expenditure of Rs 18,594.27 crore that includes net cash outgo of Rs 13,126.93 largely on account of petroleum and fertiliser subsidy.

Finance minister P Chidambaram tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha amid din in the house on the number of issues including Telangana.

“Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to Rs 13,126.93 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the Ministries/Departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to Rs 5,466.25 crore,” the Second Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants, 2013-14 said.

This means the government will see a net increase in spending by Rs 7,661 crore because of the second supplementary.

The additional spending on account of petroleum products subsidy is Rs 9000 crore while Rs 1336 crore is on account of direct subsidy transfer for LPG. The additional expenditure on account of fertilizer subsidy is Rs 5500 crore, which involves a cash outgo of Rs 2000 crore.

Chidambaram has vowed to bring down fiscal deficit at 4.8% of the GDP in the current financial year, down from 4.9% in 2012-13.

The government has also sought Parliament nod for Rs 500 crore for Development Bank of India to set up a credit guarantee fund in consonance with Factoring Act, 2011.