The Government has sought Parliament’s approval for additional spending of Rs 49,715 crore this fiscal towards meeting the outgo on food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies.
The second and final batch of the supplementary demand for grants, tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday, includes a net cash outgo of Rs 40,967 crore. It comes at a time when Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has been administering “bitter medicine” to the economy to restore its fiscal health.
Of the net cash outgo of Rs 40,967 crore, as much as Rs 39,441 crore will go towards food, fuel and fertiliser subsidies, which is over and above the Rs 32,120 crore approved by Parliament in the first batch of the supplementary demand for grants in December last year.
In the second batch, oil marketing companies have been provided Rs 24,773 crore as compensation towards under-recoveries on account of sale of petroleum products.
While food subsidy outgo has been pegged at Rs 9,914 crore, the additional spend on fertiliser subsidy will be Rs 4,753 crore.
OIL SUBSIDY
At the revised estimate stage, oil subsidy has been pegged at Rs 96,879 crore. It was Rs 43,580 crore at the Budget estimate stage.
While the first batch of supplementary grants provided Rs 28,500 crore, the second batch seeks approval for about Rs 25,000 crore.
The actual oil subsidy bill for 2011-12 stood at Rs 68,484 crore.