Even as uncertainty prevails over secretary-level appointments in North Block, Finance Secretary DC Gupta, who also holds charge of the expenditure department, kicked off the budget exercise on Wednesday.
According to finance ministry sources, Gupta held meetings with officials from the ministry of non-conventional energy and the defence ministry on Wednesday.
The revised expenditure estimates for defence pensions, which account for a bulk of the overall pension spend of the government, were discussed, they said.
While the total pension spend is estimated at Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) for 2003-04, defence pension accounts for a major chunk of Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion). The civilian pension for the current fiscal is budgeted at Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion).
The sources said that the budget division in the finance ministry, which co-ordinated the expenditure meetings with various departments and ministries, expected the exercise to be completed by November end. The meetings of the revenue department would commence soon after, they added.
The cash management exercise initiated by the finance ministry in nine departments and ministries during the current fiscal would come handy in finalising their revised expenditure budget, the sources said.
The preliminary figures available with the ministry showed that their gross expenditure during the first half stood at Rs 33,753 crore (Rs 337.53 billion), which was one-fourth less than their own projected cash needs of Rs 44,972 crore (Rs 449.72 billion).
The ministry had chosen nine high-spend departments including fertilisers, agriculture, human resource development and health and family welfare.
The sources said the ministry planned to extend the cash management exercise to several other ministries in the next fiscal. This will enable it to have a better grip in the government's expenditure pattern through the year.
While the government's total expenditure for the current fiscal is budgeted at Rs 4,38,795 crore (Rs 4,387.95 billion), there could be potential savings in both Plan and non-Plan expenditure, the finance ministry sources said.
In the last fiscal, the revised estimates of total expenditure showed savings of over Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) compared to the budget estimates.
The sources said there could be significant savings in Plan expenditure given the spend pattern of all the ministries and departments.
Even in non-Plan expenditure, savings could be expected in interest payments and defence spend.
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