New Delhi, Mar 10: The government on Tuesday sought Parliament’s approval to spend net additional Rs 2.01 lakh crore in the current financial year ending March 31, with a hefty chunk of the expenditure going towards food and fertiliser subsidy.
As per the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants tabled in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government has sought permission for gross additional spending of Rs 2.81 lakh crore.
Out of this, Rs 80,146 crore will be met from enhanced receipts or recoveries of the ministries and departments, and the net cash expenditure would be over Rs 2.01 lakh crore.
In December 2025, the government had brought the first supplementary demands for grants seeking Parliament nod for gross extra spending of Rs 1.32 lakh crore, and net additional spending of Rs 41,455 crore.
The government sought Rs 19,230 crore for the fertilisers department and Rs 23,641 crore for subsidies under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).
Other major expenditure heads include Rs 41,822 crore for the defence ministry.
In the Revised Estimates for current fiscal, the government has cut total expenditure to Rs 49.65 lakh crore, from Rs 50.65 lakh crore. Till January, the government had spent Rs 36.90 lakh crore, according to Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data.
ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said although the net cash outgo under the second supplementary demand for grants has been pegged at a sizeable Rs 2 lakh crore, this is likely to be offset to a large extent by expenditure savings across ministries.
“For instance, Government of India’s revenue expenditure needs to expand by a steep 30 per cent YoY during February-March 2026 to meet the FY2026 RE, entailing an incremental amount of Rs 2.3 lakh crore. Consequently, we do not expect a material fiscal slippage on this account,” Nayar said.
