Finmin order to curb Q4 spending binge to aid in battle against deficit

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Himani Kaushik: New Delhi, Jan 10 2013, 06:16 IST

Tags: Air India | P Chidambaram | Kelkar Committee

With revenue streams lagging the Budget target, the finance ministry has imposed tighter curbs on spending — especially Plan expenditure by central ministries — in its bid to meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 5.3% of the gross domestic product. Sources said all ministries and departments have been asked to restrict their January-March spending to under 30% of the Budget estimate for the full year, reducing bunching of expenditure in the fourth quarter. This fiscal’s expenditure management has already been slightly better than the previous year’s, with April-November expenditure at just 58% of the estimated Budget size, compared with 60.5% during the same period last year. Officials expect these measures to save R40,000-50,000 crore.

In November, the ministry had issued a circular that funds under grants-in-aid will not be released unless the state/organisation produces utilisation certificates. On the non-Plan side (where the scope for control is far more limited as the head includes salaries, interest payments, routine unavoidable expenses and subsidies) too, the expenditure department has informally asked ministries to cut expenses wherever they can. In May, the department had mandated a 10% cut in non-Plan spending. The Kelkar committee had proposed savings of R20,000 crore on the expenditure front.

“The aim is to save as much as possible. Given the Plan spending budget of R5,21,025 crore, even 8-10% savings will be substantial,” said an official. The budgeted growth in Plan expenditure was 22.1%. During April-November, spending on this head grew just about 10%. This partly explains why the April-November fiscal

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