Govt seeks parliament nod for additional spending

The government on Friday sought Parliament's approval for an additional spending of Rs 54,000 crore to meet its commitments towards GST compensation to states and cover for enhanced dearness relief and pension needs of its employees.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha that among things include a sum of Rs 20,000 crore required for releasing GST compensation for states and union territories.

The supplementary demand for grant is an additional grant required to meet the required expenditure of the government over and above the amount for which parliamentary nod was taken earlier.

In November, Sitharaman had taken Parliament's approval for additional spending of Rs 21,246 crore as part of first supplementary demand for grant.

The government has sought gross additional expenditure of Rs 4.8 lakh crore, but net cash outgo is expected only to the tune of Rs 53,963.58 crore. IANS