New Delhi, 12 Dec

The government on Thursday sought Parliament's nod for additional net expenditure of Rs 44,143 crore in the current fiscal, mainly on account of higher spending by agriculture, fertiliser and defence ministries.

The first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2024-25 was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary to seek approval of Parliament to authorise gross additional expenditure of Rs 87,762.56 crore.

Of this, proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to Rs 44,142.87 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the Ministries/ Departments or enhanced receipts/recoveries, aggregates to Rs 43,618.43 crore.

The additional spending includes Rs 6,593.73 crore towards the fertiliser subsidy scheme, about Rs 9,000 crore for agriculture and farmer welfare, and Rs 8,000 crore towards defence spendings.

It also includes expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore towards expenditure by the Ministry of External Affairs and Rs 4,800 crore towards expenditure by Home Ministry.

ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said the net cash outgo under the first Supplementary Demand for Grants is relatively modest and could end up being offset by savings in departments other than those included in this supplementary, for instance, capital expenditure.

"We don't see this additional expenditure as posing a risk to the achievement of the fiscal deficit target, given the expectations of capex undershooting the budgeted amount by at least Rs 1 lakh crore," Nayar said.