The government on Thursday sought parliament’s approval to spend a net additional ₹853 billion ($13.14 billion) in new spending in the current fiscal year ending March 2018, a finance ministry statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces national elections next year, has pushed up spending on rural infrastructure and job-creating sectors to bolster his popularity among voters.
The extra spending is unlikely to impact the country’s fiscal deficit target for 2017/18 as India had raised the target to 3.5% of gross domestic product from 3.2% earlier.
The spending would include ₹627 billion compensation to the State governments and union territories following the introduction of Goods and Services Tax in July, and ₹92.6 billion for pension payments to the armed forces.
Asia’s third-largest economy grew 7.2% in the December quarter, its fastest pace in five quarters, beating China’s 6.8% growth in that quarter.
Mr. Modi faces criticism over mounting bad loans at state-run banks and a $1.77-billion fraud at state lender Punjab National Bank , the biggest in the country’s banking history.
