Budget 2024: Fin Min seeks expenditure proposals from other ministries

The government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has aimed to streamline the Budget approval process for more effective fund utilisation.

The finance ministry has begun the process of collecting expenditure proposals for the second and final batch of supplementary demands for grants from various ministries and departments. This development comes ahead of the Budget Session, which is likely to begin in the last week of January. This will be the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha before the general elections scheduled around April-May.

During this session, the Centre will seek expenditure approvals from Parliament for the four-month period until July 2024 through a vote-on-account. The second batch of supplementary demands for grants for the fiscal year 2023-24 is intended to be presented before Parliament in the Budget Session, the finance ministry indicated in an office memorandum.

The cases eligible for inclusion under such demands would include those where advances from the contingency fund have been sanctioned. Additionally, payments against court decrees would be incorporated, along with cases explicitly advised by the finance ministry to move supplementary demands in the Winter Session.

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The directive emphasised that when processing proposals for supplementary grants, the grant controlling authority must consistently pinpoint savings within the grant. This approach aims to eliminate unnecessary or inflated supplementary demands, averting the need for surrender after obtaining the supplementary grant.

According to a December 29 memorandum, ministries are instructed to submit their supplementary proposals by January 8. The interim budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 will be tabled on February 1.

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The government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has aimed to streamline the Budget approval process for more effective fund utilisation.

Earlier, when the Budget was presented at the end of February, a three-stage Parliament approval process concluded around mid-May. This delayed the commencement of government spending on projects until August or September after the monsoon. The revised timeline is designed to expedite budgetary approvals and enable swifter project implementation.

With inputs from PTI