Govt seeks Parliament nod to spend Rs 14,524 crore more on MGNREGA in FY24

On a net basis, the Centre is seeking permission to spend an additional Rs 58,378 crore in 2023-24.

The central government on December 6 sought the Lok Sabha's nod to spend an additional Rs 14,524 crore on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in 2023-24 as part of its first batch of supplementary demands for grants.

Tabled in the lower house of Parliament by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, the first supplementary demands for grants for the current financial year is seeking permission to spend a gross Rs 1.29 lakh crore more than what was indicated in the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2023. On a net basis, the additional spending anticipated is Rs 58,378 crore, with various ministeries and departments seen making savings to the tune of Rs 70,968 crore.

The permission for extra spending on the rural jobs scheme comes after months of speculation on the same, with some reports mentioning the figure could be as high as Rs 40,000 crore. The 2023-24 Budget had allocated Rs 60,000 crore for the MGNREGA for the current year, sharply lower than last year's outlay of Rs 89,400 crore.

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As part of its first supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24, the Centre is also looking to spend, among others:

>> Rs 13,351 crore more on fertiliser subsidy

>> Rs 11,850 crore for capital infusion into BSNL

>> Rs 9,014 crore as loan to Exim Bank against invocation of guarantee by Exim Bank for loans to other countries

>> Rs 8,500 crore to provide LPG connections to poor households

>> Rs 4,807 crore as subsidy to states on decentralised procurement of foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

>> Rs 1,100 crore for recapitalisation of regional rural banks

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The higher expenditure by the government should not result in any fiscal slippage this year, with the Centre well on track to meet its deficit target of 5.9 percent of GDP.

"The net cash outgo in the Supplementary Demand for Grants is moderate, and could be matched by savings in other departments. This does not suggest a risk of the fiscal deficit target being overshot," said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA.

As per latest data, the fiscal deficit for April-October 2023 stood at Rs 8.04 lakh crore, representing 45 percent of the full-year target of Rs 17.87 lakh crore, aided by higher-than-expected growth in tax collections.