Govt seeks Parliament nod for additional Rs 36,953 cr spending

New Delhi: The government today sought an approval from Parliament for an additional Rs 36,952.86 crore as the final batch of supplementary demands as part of grants for 2014-15 to meet the expenditure, mainly towards CST compensation to states and higher outgo for food subsidy. However, the net cash outgo will aggregate to only Rs 19,229.61 crore, while the rest of the amount would be matched by savings and enhanced recoveries.[caption id=“attachment_2136097” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Parliament of India. Reuters[/caption] The second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants 2014-15 was tabled in Parliament today by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. “Proposals involving net cash outgo of Rs 19,229.61 crore will not result in any significant variation in total estimated expenditure in revised estimates…,” it said. The additional outlay toward Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation to the states has been pegged at Rs 10,761.41 crore, followed by food subsidy at Rs 7,389.61 crore and additional outgo for pension at Rs 687 crore. Besides, an allocation of Rs 241.56 crore has also been made towards CST compensation to Union Territories. The supplementary demand has also earmarked Rs 2,399 crore towards Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd for creation of strategic oil reserve. This will not entail any additional cash outgo as the investment would be made by saving elsewhere in the petroleum sector, the supplementary demand said. The government, however, did not seek any additional amount for meeting its fuel subsidy bill. This has become possible because of the declining prices of crude oil in the international market, which has helped in keeping the fuel subsidy bill check. PTI