Govt seeks Par nod to spend Rs 85,315 cr more this fiscal
New Delhi, Mar 8 :The government today sought Parliament’s nod for a net additional cash spending of Rs 85,315 crore in the current fiscal ending this month, 70 per cent of which will go towards compensating states for revenue loss suffered post the GST rollout.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the fourth batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha.
The additional expenditure is being incurred to match the revised estimates provided in the Budget and will not impact the 3.5 per cent fiscal deficit.
As per the Supplementary Demands for Grants, the gross additional expenditure would be over Rs 9.06 lakh crore and this would be matched by over Rs 8.21 lakh crore savings by various ministries and departments.
The net cash outgo from the exchequer would aggregate to Rs 85,315.30 crore, as per the finance ministry document.
A bulk of the net cash outgo would be spent to compensate states on account of revenue loss suffered due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as for phasing out of Central Sales Tax (CST). GST was rolled out on July 1.
A total of Rs 61,215.58 crore, which is about 71 per cent of Rs 85,315 crore, has been earmarked for the Department of Revenue. This includes Rs 58,999 crore to be paid for revenue loss to states on account of revenue loss post GST implementation and Rs 1,384 crore to be paid as CST compensation.
Another major spending head is Rs 15,065.65 crore towards grants in aid and creation of capital assets under various schemes, while Rs 9,260 crore has been earmarked for paying pensions to defence personnel. Besides, Rs 5,721.90 crore would be spent on meeting expenditure towards interest payment on market loans and treasury bills.
In the Union Budget 2018-19 presented on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley revised the fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal ending on March 31 to 3.5 per cent of GDP from 3.2 per cent previous target.
For the next fiscal (2018-19), he projected a fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of GDP as opposed to 3 per cent previously announced.
The government is likely to introduce amendments to the FRBM Act in the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament, specifying the fiscal consolidation roadmap.
As per this roadmap, the fiscal deficit will be lowered to 3.3 per cent in the next fiscal starting April 1; 3.1 per cent in 2019-20, and 3 per cent by 2020-21.
