Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Friday
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ANI
She also assured the House that the revised expenditure for FY26 will not exceed the Budget Estimates even after two batches of Supplementary Demands for Grants (SDGs) involving over ₹ 4 lakh crore.
Replying to the debate on the second batch of SDGs in Parliament, she said the fund will act as a buffer to absorb shocks arising from unforeseen global challenges such as the current one in West Asia. “The ₹1 lakh crore Economic Stabilisation Fund will give fiscal headroom to allow India to respond to global headwinds,” she said. Around ₹ 57,000 crore for the proposed fund will be met through fresh cash approval, while the remaining ₹43,000 crore will come through savings.
Seeking nod
The second batch of SDGs seeks approval for gross additional expenditure of over ₹2.81 lakh crore. Of this, proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to over ₹2 lakh crore, while gross additional expenditure matched by savings of ministries/departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to over ₹80,000 crore.
Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister
The government sought ₹19,230 crore for the fertilizer department and ₹23,641 crore for subsidies under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). Other major expenditure heads include ₹41,822 crore for the Defence Ministry.
The first batch of SDGs, presented on February 1, had provided for over ₹1.32 lakh crore, taking the total supplementary demands to over ₹4 lakh crore. There have been apprehensions that such a large amount could impact fiscal deficit, but Sitharaman ruled this out. “There is no increase in expenditure beyond the BE of 2025-26 due to the second supplementary,” she said.
Published on March 13, 2026