Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces increased domestic LPG production to offset import disruptions caused by Middle East tensions, alongside assurances of fertiliser availability and the clearing of UPA-era oil bonds.
Revenue collection next financial year may be affected, and, along with this, subsidies on food and fertilisers can go up if the war in West Asia drags for long, according to experts.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha, which seeks approval for a gross additional expenditure of Rs 1.32 lakh crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and other leaders met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla after the Winter Session of Parliament was adjourned. They thanked Birla for the session's conduct.
According to a senior officer, during the two-week deadline for surrender of arms and ammunition, a total of 990 arms were surrendered with 11,526 ammunition.
The government has deferred the introduction of bills related to 'one nation one election' in the Lok Sabha till after the completion of financial business, sources said.
The Centre's fiscal deficit at the end of the eighth month of financial year 2024-25 touched 52.5 per cent of the full-year target, government data showed on Tuesday. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit -- the gap between the government's expenditure and revenue -- was about Rs 8.47 lakh crore during the April-November period, according to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
The government's capital expenditure in the April-November period of financial year 2024-25 (FY25) continued to contract with a 12.3 per cent decline year-on-year (Y-o-Y), according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts on Tuesday.
Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya has said that he will pursue relief for the Enforcement Directorate and banks taking more than two times the debt he owed. His remarks came following a statement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament about recovery of over Rs 14,130 crore from his attached assets.
As Parliament gears up for a stormy start next week over the Adani issue, the government has listed 16 bills, including one to amend the waqf law and five new ones, for the winter session.
The supplementary demands for grants include a gross additional spending of over Rs 2 lakh crore, which would be matched by savings of over Rs 1.21 lakh crore.
But the government will present a second tranche of Supplementary Demands for Grants during the Budget session of Parliament in February, when it can seek additional spending.
The government has exhausted only 39 per cent of its fiscal deficit target in the first half of FY24.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the government is keeping an eye on inflation which is purely "extraneous" nowadays because of fuel and fertiliser prices. Replying to the debat on the Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said wholesale inflation has fallen to a 21-month low. Later, the Rajya Sabha returned the Supplementary Demands for Grants to the Lok Sabha, thus completing the process of authorising the government to spend an additional Rs 3.25 lakh crore in FY2022-23.
On March 13, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the House amounting to a total of Rs 2,70,508.89 crore.
Ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, the government has convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Saturday.
According to the third batch of supplementary demands for grants tabled in the Lok Sabha, approval is being sought for gross additional expenditure of over Rs 1.58 lakh crore.
The government may be staring at a modest slippage in fiscal deficit for 2022-23 (FY23), with the Ministry of Finance seeking parliamentary approval for additional spending through a second and final tranche of supplementary demands for grants. On Monday, as the Budget session of Parliament resumed, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought Parliament approval for additional gross spending of Rs 2.7 trillion in FY23 (which ends on March 31). While net cash outgo is pegged at Rs 1.48 trillion, the rest will be matched by savings or enhanced receipts, the finance ministry said.
The government will seek Parliament's approval for Rs 37,000-crore additional spending on infrastructure development in the second batch of supplementary demands for grant. Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced additional budget of Rs 25,000 crore as capital expenditure (capex) on roads, defence, water supply, urban development and domestically produced capital equipment. Besides, the central government approved issuance of a special interest-free 50-year loan to states of Rs 12,000 crore for infrastructure development.
Besides the bills, the government has listed the first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24 for presentation, discussion and voting during the session.
In its first decision, the Punjab cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday approved filling up 25,000 vacant posts in various state departments, including 10,000 in the police force.
This is part of the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2020-21 moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha.
The government on Friday sought Parliament's nod for an additional Rs 54,000-crore spending mainly to meet its obligation towards GST compensation to states and defence-related expenditure. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur presented the second and final batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha.
Day 5 of Parliament's monsoon session 2020. Watch all the action in both houses LIVE here.
It may plan a significant hike in budgetary support aimed at completing the balance 8.4 million dwellings by March 2024.
The Uttarakhand assembly on Wednesday passed a stricter anti-conversion Bill making unlawful conversion a cognisable and non-bailable offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of at least three to a maximum of 10 years.
However, members requested the government and the presiding officers of both the House to end the proceedings early citing the festive season and New Year celebrations ahead.
The health and family welfare ministry spent 70 per cent of its allocation till October. The ministry may need additional funds for the vaccination drive which is expected to be kicked off from January.
Government sought Parliament's approval to spend an additional Rs 49,715.54 crore to meet the outgo subsidies.
The Opposition intensified its noisy protests in Lok Sabha on Wednesday over Pegasus snooping, farm laws and other issues with some unruly members even hurling papers and torn placards in the House, but the government went ahead with its legislative agenda and three bills were passed amid the din.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday exuded confidence that inflation would further decline and the government is on track to meet its budgetary target for deficit and said that there is no fear of stagflation in India. Replying to the debate on first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants 2022-23 in Lok Sabha, the finance minister said inflation has come down and it is now in the tolerable band of the RBI. Inflation has been declining since April 2022 and it is declining further, she said.
Of the cash outgo, Rs 64,598 crore is for enhanced expenditure on fertiliser subsidy under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0 and Rs 20,466 crore for the capital outlay in defence services.
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
In November, the fiscal deficit widened by Rs 2.2 trillion, the highest ever in any month this financial year.
The provision for additional Rs 10,500 crore (Rs 105 billion) was made in the first batch of supplementary demands for grant, which was approved by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The amount has been provided, "to meet the additional requirement of the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme," stated the supplementary demand for grants.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government would infuse Rs 20,000 crore into public sector banks (PSBs) in 2021-22, to meet the regulatory norms. For the current financial year also, the government had made a provision of Rs 20,000 crore for recapitalisation.
Of the total cash outgo Rs 40,000 crore is towards enhanced expenditure under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program and Rs 33,771.48 crore have been sought for direct benefit transfer under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and National Social Assistance Programme.
The only business transacted on Friday was the passage of the Supplementary Demands for Grants for Railways for 2011-12 in the Lok Sabha by a voice vote amid vociferous slogan-shouting by Opposition members
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong despite concerns of inflation and growth, and the overall environment will improve significantly if Parliament functions and approves important legislations.
The forthcoming budget needs to delay fiscal consolidation, instead should focus more on supporting the pandemic battered-economy and boost consumption demand by offering income tax soaps and cutting fuel taxes, says a report. In a pre-budget report, India Ratings said it expects the new budget to consolidate and strengthen the plan set out in the last budget, rather than trying out new things by continue with the revenue and capital expenditure pattern of FY'22 to provide stability and consolidation to the past/ongoing efforts, and to focus on boosting demand by generating employment opportunities in areas/sectors that have been impacted more by the pandemic. The report therefore expects the finance minister to delay fiscal consolidation and make it to be a gradual and calibrated process, thus ensuring the necessary fiscal support that the economy needs is available till the recovery acquires its own momentum.
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