The government has sought a final tranche of supplementary demands for grants for 2022-23 from Parliament, amounting to a net cash outgo of about ₹1.5 lakh crore, primarily to provide for fertiliser subsidies, defence pensions and GST compensation.
“Approval of the Parliament is sought to authorise gross additional expenditure of ₹2,70,508.89 crore. Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to ₹1,48,133.23 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the Ministries/Departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to ₹1,22,374.37 crore,” the Finance Ministry said in its introductory note to the supplementary demands for grants placed in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Aditi Nayar, chief economist at rating agency ICRA, noted that although a portion of the net cash outgo may be offset by savings under other heads, it had raised the likelihood of a modest slippage relative to the revised estimate of a ₹17.6 lakh crore fiscal deficit in 2022-23.
