Govt seeks additional $2 bn spend on food subsidy

The government has sought parliamentary approval to spend about an additional $2 billion in the fiscal year to March 31, documents presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today showed.

The government has sought parliamentary approval to spend about an additional $2 billion in the fiscal year to March 31, documents presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday showed.

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Food subsidy in India mainly covers compensation to state-run procurement firms such as Food Corp of India for buying staple grains including rice and wheat from local farmers to supply to the poor at below-market rates.

The additional spending of $2 billion is over and above an estimated $13.5 billion the government said in its federal budget last month it would spend on food subsidy during 2010/11.