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Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a statement of the demands in the lower House, which amounted to a net additional cash outgo of Rs 23,675 crore, on Tuesday.
The remaining Rs 1.63 lakh crore came from savings of the various ministries and departments and through enhanced receipts and recoveries, the statement said.
The single largest demand came from the finance ministry for Rs 1.59 lakh crore as transfer to states in the form of back-to-back loans as goods and services tax (GST) compensation shortfall.
The GST compensation shortfall would not affect the central government’s fiscal deficit, making the net outgo quite modest, said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at
.
Further, the additional outgo of Rs 90,000 crore for the free foodgrain provision in May-November was being absorbed by the cushion created in this year’s budget on account of the prepayment of the Food Corporation of India’s loans in FY21, according to Nayar.
“With healthy revenues amid only a modest increase in the expenditure outlay, the cash flow position of the government of India does appear to be quite comfortable, which allowed the release of the Rs. 75,000 crore of GST compensation loans from the Central Government’s own borrowings raised so far,” she said.
The department of health and family welfare which sought Rs 10,727 crore Covid-19 emergency response and health system preparedness.
The finance ministry also raised a demand for Rs 1,750 crore as compound interest support to lending institutions in relation to the loan moratorium.
The list of demands also included Rs 1,872 crore sought for loans and advances to Air India by the civil aviation ministry.
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