Turmoil in global commodity markets is likely to push the country's subsidy bill up by over 80 per cent to an all-time high of Rs 1,29,000 crore in this fiscal, though in the Interim Budget the government proposes to bring it down to Rs 1,00,932 crore in 2009-10.
In the revised estimates for 2008-09, the government has estimated the total outflow on various subsidies to increase to Rs 1,29,243 crore from the actual subsidies of Rs 70,926 crore during 2007-08.
The major contributor to the significant rise in subsidy is the fertiliser sector, which has accounted for Rs 75,849 crore in the current fiscal against Rs 31,490 crore in 2007-08.
In the Interim Budget speech for 2009-10 fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that subsidies for the fertiliser, food and petroleum sectors would be Rs 95,579 crore.
Expenditure under interest subsidies and other subvention is estimated at Rs 5,353 crore, taking the total to Rs 1,00,932 crore (over Rs 1 trillion).
The subsidy of Rs 95,579 crore on the food, fertiliser and petroleum sectors for next fiscal is lower than the revised estimates for 2008-09 at Rs 1,22,352 crore.