Lok Sabha on Thursday approved the Union Budget envisaging an expenditure of around Rs 45 lakh crore for the fiscal year starting 1 April without any discussion, as the Opposition continued to create a ruckus over demand for a JPC probe into allegations against the Adani Group.
Soon after the Lok Sabha reassembled at 6 p.m. after two adjournments, Speaker Om Birla put the opposition’s cut motion or amendments to the government spending plan to a vote, which was rejected by voice vote. This was followed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman moving the demands for grants for 2023-24 and relevant Appropriation Bills for discussion and voting.
The Finance Bill 2023, which contains tax proposals that Sitharaman moved while presenting the budget on February 1, will now be taken up by the Lok Sabha, possibly on Friday. All the budget-related bills will be transmitted to the Rajya Sabha, which cannot make any changes but will only return them to the Lok Sabha after discussion as they are classified as ‘money bills,” requiring the approval of the Lower House only.
According to the budget papers, the total expenditure in 2023–24 is estimated at Rs 45,03,097 crore, of which total capital expenditure has been pegged at Rs 10,961 crore.
During the current financial year ending March 31, 2023, the total expenditure has
been estimated at Rs 41,872 crore, which is more than the outlay for 2021–22 by Rs 3,934 crore.
Besides other things, the Budget 2023–24 reflects the continuing commitment of the Union government to boost economic growth by investing in infrastructure development and increasing capital expenditure by 37.4 percent over the revised estimate of 2022–23.
Effective capital expenditure has been estimated at Rs 13,70,949 crore in 2023–24, showing an increase of 30.1 percent over RE 2022–23. With regard to the fiscal deficit, the budget proposed to bring it down to 5.9 percent of the GDP from 6.4 percent likely in the current financial year. To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023–24, the government plans net market borrowings of Rs 11.8 lakh crore from dated securities.
