Centre underpaid food subsidy bill by around Rs 69,000 crore in fiscal, says report

In order to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018-19, the central government has underpaid the food subsidy bill to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) by as much as Rs 69,394, reported Mint.

In addition, the report said that there has been a serious fall in payment towards subsidies by the government in the last fiscal. According to a report by Controller General of Accounts (CGA), only 74 percent of the total major subsidies were paid during the last fiscal in comparison to the 83 percent payment made in 2017-18, the daily said.

The underpayment may force the FCI to raise funds at a huge cost from external sources such as bank loans, the report said, adding that the FCI told Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) during the audit that short allocation of funds by the finance ministry is due to competing financial priorities of the government.