The government on Tuesday sought approval from Parliament for net additional expenditure of Rs 2.01 lakh crore in the current financial year ending March 31, a large part of which will be spent on food and fertilizer subsidies. According to the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government has sought permission for gross additional expenditure of Rs 2.81 lakh crore. Of this, Rs 80,146 crore will be met through increased receipts or recoveries of ministries and departments, and the net cash expenditure will be more than Rs 2.01 lakh crore.
In December 2025, the government had moved the first Supplementary Demands for Grants, seeking Parliament's approval for gross additional expenditure of Rs 1.32 lakh crore and net additional expenditure of Rs 41,455 crore. The government sought Rs 19,230 crore for the fertilizer department and Rs 23,641 crore for subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). The other big expenditure includes Rs 41,822 crore for the Defense Ministry. In the revised estimate of the current fiscal year, the government has reduced the total expenditure from Rs 50.65 lakh crore to Rs 49.65 lakh crore. According to data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), till January the government had spent Rs 36.90 lakh crore.
ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nair said that although the net cash expenditure under the second supplementary demand for grants has been estimated at Rs 2 lakh crore, it is expected to be compensated to a large extent by expenditure savings in the ministry. Nair said that for example, to meet the revenue expenditure of FY 2026, the Government of India's revenue expenditure needs to increase by a huge 30 percent YoY during February-March 2026, which will increase by Rs 2.3 lakh crore. Therefore, we do not expect any major fiscal slippage in this account.
