Ministries can carry forward unused funds: Centre

The Centre has allowed ministries and departments to utilise unspent amounts of the first and second quarter expenditure in the subsequent quarter in the same financial year with prior approval of the expenditure secretary, said a latest office memorandum by the finance ministry.

"Ministry/department should not under any circumstance presume prior approval of the expenditure secretary. This has to be formally obtained prior to utilising the unspent balances. Seeking post facto approval is not an option," the memorandum said.

The Centre said ministries cannot spend more than 33% of expenditure of budget estimates in the last quarter and not more than 15% of expenditure in the last month of the fiscal.

The move is initiated to avoid the last-minute spending by the ministries and helping them to plan the budget expenditure in advance.

It also advised all financial advisers to ensure monthly or quarterly expenditure plan tracking of sanctions and concurrent expenditure against Budget provisions are available.