NEW DELHI:The Union Government on Thursday sought the Parliament’s nod to spend an additional Rs 85,315 crore this fiscal, nearly 70 per cent of which is to go towards compensating states for loss of revenue suffered post the GST rollout.
The government detailed the additional expenditure incurred while moving the fourth batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha. According to officials, the additional expenditure is being incurred to match the revised estimates provided in the Union Budget and will not impact the 3.5 per cent fiscal deficit.
Figures submitted as part of the demand for grants show that gross additional expenditure for the Centre would be over Rs 9.06 lakh crore, which would be partly offset by over Rs 8.21 lakh crore of savings achieved by various ministries and departments. The net cash outgo from the exchequer will aggregate to Rs 85,315.30 crore.
As per the Finance Ministry’s figures, Rs 61,215.58 crore, about 71 per cent of the net additional expenditure, has been earmarked for the Department of Revenue. This includes Rs 58,999 crore to be paid for revenue loss to states on account of revenue loss post GST implementation and Rs 1,384 crore to be paid as CST compensation.
Direct tax collections up
Direct Tax collections for the current financial year (as of February 28) have risen 19.5 per cent to Rs 7.44 lakh crore, primarily buoyed by a strong pick up in corporate tax. It represents 74.3 per cent of the Rs 10.05 lakh crore pegged in the revised estimates made in the Union Budget.