The Union finance ministry on Tuesday sought Parliament go-ahead for gross additional expenditure of Rs 2.81 trillion involving a net cash outgo of Rs 2.01 trillion, through the second supplementary demand for grants for FY26.
The gross additional spending will be matched by savings of Rs 80,145.71 crore across ministries and departments or by enhanced receipt and recoveries.
"The net cash outgo is likely to be offset to a large extent by expenditure savings across ministries. The government's revenue expenditure (RE) needs to expand by a steep 30 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) during February-March 2026 to meet the FY26 RE target, entailing an incremental amount of 2.3 trillion. Consequently, we do not expect a material fiscal slippage on this account,' said Aditi Nayar, chief economist, Icra.
An additional allocation of Rs 59,000 crore has been sought by the finance ministry for the Economic Stabilisation Fund and the Gold Reserve Fund -- Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, 2015.
The additional expenditure includes 15,000 crore for nutrient-based subsidy policy under Department of Fertilisers and Rs 23,640 crore for subsidies for development action plan under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
For meeting additional expenditure towards subsidies under the interest equalisation support for lines of credit under Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme, an additional cash outgo of Rs 3,788 crore has been sought by the finance ministry.
According to the RE, the government's total expenditure for FY26 is Rs 49.64 trillion of which Rs 10.96 trillion is capital expenditure. The government has utilised 74.3 per cent of the total expenditure as on January 31, 2026.
Of the total capital expenditure, 77 per cent has been spent in the first 10 months of FY26, according to the Controller General of Accounts data.
-- Ruchika Chitravanshi, Business Standard
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