Banks have collected Rs 13,109.17 crore from asset sales of fugitives including Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She stated that the most recent recovery was Rs 792 crore from the sale of Mallya and others’ assets on July 16, 2021. She said the administration is taking efforts to temper down prices of edible oil and other vital goods, in response to many problems addressed by the Opposition throughout the discussion, including price rises.
She went on to say that depositors’ money is safer at government-owned banks. In terms of the states’ financial situation, the finance minister stated that the Centre has already transferred 86.4 percent of what was allocated for the entire fiscal year 2019-20.
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“Funds are being allocated and an additional Rs 15,000 crore is being granted for emergency COVID-19 response,” according to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Only two states, she added, have a negative cash balance out of 28. Sitharaman stated that the increased cost for Supplementary Demands for Grants is Rs Rs 3.73 lakh crore.
She stated that Rs 2.99 lakh crore is the increased cash outgo as a result of large ticket spend for Air India and an increase in fertiliser subsidy owing to global price firming. As a result, an increase in the fertiliser subsidy has been awarded, amounting to Rs 58,431 crore,” she explained. Since 2014, the government has paid roughly Rs 93,685 crore in oil bonds, according to Sitharaman. She stated that the government will have to pay until 2026, when the oil debts mature.
“I would like the people to remember,” she continued, quoting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, “that issuing bonds and imposing deficits on oil firms is not a sustainable answer to this situation.” We are just transferring our debt to our offspring, who will be responsible for repaying it.” According to the Supplementary Demands for Grants, there would be a net cash outflow of more than Rs 2.99 lakh crore, with Rs 74,517 crore in additional spending balanced by savings from other ministries. According to the document, the Civil Aviation Ministry would receive Rs 62,057 crore for equity infusion in Air India Assets Holding Company (AIAHL) to settle previous government guaranteed loans and past dues/liabilities of Air India.
According to the supplemental grant demands, an extra Rs 2,628 crore would be allocated to Air India for loans and advances in order to recuperate the advance from the Contingency Fund of India. In addition, the Department of Food and Public Distribution would get an extra Rs 49,805 crore to cover costs associated with different food storage and warehousing initiatives. The Department of Commerce would get almost Rs 2,400 crore to cover expenses such as subsidies under the ‘Interest Equalisation Program’ and investment under the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) scheme, among other things.
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The ministries of Defence and Home have set aside over Rs 5,000 crore and over Rs 4,000 crore, respectively, for increased spending. The government’s overall expenditure was anticipated to be Rs 34.83 lakh crore in the 2021-22 Budget. However, given the two batches of supplemental grant requests submitted by the government thus far, this is projected to exceed the budget. In the first batch of supplemental demands for grants, the administration secured Parliament’s approval in August for net extra spending of Rs 23,675 crore.
