Govt spent barely 40% of Budget on biggest schemes in 9 months

Government has spent just a little more than 40% of the budgeted amount in its biggest schemes in the first three quarters of the current fiscal and expects to spend less than 75% by the end of the year.

These 53 selected schemes are those that had a budget estimate of Rs 500 crore or more in 2025-26.These schemes to be implemented by states are funded by both Centre and states, in accordance with the approved sharing pattern.Infrastructure maintenance schemes under health and family welfare, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, and pre-matric scholarship for SCs and others were the only three schemes in which the revised estimate (RE) was equal to the budgeted amount.

RE was more than 100% of the budget estimate (BE) for three others - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, post-matric scholarship for STs, and National Mission on Natural Farming.

For the remaining 47 sche-mes, RE is lower than BE by varying degrees. The most dr-astic decline is in PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana where RE of Rs 150 crore is barely a sixth of the BE of Rs 850 crore.Overall, BEs for these 53 schemes were just over Rs 5 lakh crore, revised to under Rs 3.8 lakh crore, or 74.4% of the budgetary allocation.

The funds released in the nine months ending Dec 31 totalled just over Rs 2 lakh crore or 41.2% of the budget allocation and 55.4% of REs.REs are less than 40% of BE for PMKSY-Command Area Development and Water Management, PM eBus Sewa, Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, Jal Jeevan Mission/National Rural Drinking Water Mission, Computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies and Other Items of State/UT Component-PMAY Urban.The actual amount released is less than 10% of BE in six of these schemes.Among the larger of these schemes (Rs 2,000 crore or more BE) are Jal Jeevan Mission/National Rural Drinking Water Mission (BE Rs 67,000 crore, actual spend in nine months RE Rs 31 crore), PM Schools for Rising India (BE Rs 7,500 crore, actual spend Rs 473 crore), and Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (BE Rs 2,140 crore, actual spend Rs 40 crore).