President Ram Nath Kovind gives nod to Act allowing govt to spend additional Rs 3.73 lakh crore in FY22

Earlier on December 3, 2021, the government sought Parliament's nod for gross additional spending. Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants, stating the net cash outgo would be over Rs 2.99 lakh crore and Rs 74,517 crore extra expenditure would be matched by savings by different ministries.

This included extra spending of Rs 58,430 crore towards fertiliser subsidy, over Rs 2,000 crore towards various schemes of the Department of Commerce and over Rs 53,000 crore by the Department of Expenditure under various export promotion schemes.

As part of over Rs 3.73 lakh crore additional spending planned in the current financial year, the Centre also sought permission to infuse over Rs 62,000 crore into the firm that now holds residual assets and liabilities of Air India after its privatisation. Rs 22,039 crore will be used by the Rural Development Ministry for transfer to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Fund.

About Rs 2,400 crore would be given to the Department of Commerce for meeting expenditure towards subsidies under the 'Interest Equalisation Scheme', and investment under the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) scheme, among others.

Over Rs 5,000 crore and more than Rs 4,000 crore have been earmarked for additional spending by the ministries of defence and home, respectively.

The Parliament approved the government’s demand for additional expenditure during the winter session amid uproar by Opposition parties

–With agency inputs