Govt seeks approval for extra spending

The government Monday sought Parliament's approval for an additional Rs 66,113 crore spending in the financial year 2017-18, a good portion of which will go to provide electricity connections to poor and payment of urea subsidies.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moved the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the fiscal in the Lok Sabha.

Of the gross expenditure of Rs 66,113 crore, a net cash outgo will be Rs 33,380 crore. Rs 32,372 crore will be matched by savings of various ministries or departments, the Demands for Grants document said.

A whopping Rs 20,530 crore has been approved for urea subsidy, Rs 15,908 crore for National Highways. Rs 4,800 crore will be spent on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Around Rs 960 crore has been provided for user charges to Goods and Services Tax Network, Rs 3,594.57 crore was provided to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and Rs 1,581 crore for meeting additional expenditure for Pay and Allowances of Air Force.

Parliament also approved Rs 3,480.44 crore for providing additional subsidy of interest liability in respect of loan granted to the Food Corporation of India from National Small Savings Fund, and food subsidy to FCI, the document said.

The government sought Rs 212 crore for regional rural banks that will help provide credit for development of agriculture, trade, commerce, and industry.