Budget exercise kicked off

 According to finance ministry sources, Gupta held meetings with officials from the ministry of non-conventional energy and the defence ministry today.

 The revised expenditure estimates for defence pensions, which account for a bulk of the overall pension spend of the government, were discussed today, they said.

 While the total pension spend is estimated at Rs 15,000 crore for 2003-04, defence pension accounts for a major chunk of Rs 11,000 crore. The civilian pension for the current fiscal is budgeted at Rs 4,000 crore.

 The sources said that the budget division in the finance ministry, which co-ordinated the expenditure meetings with various departments and ministries, expected the exercise to be completed by November end. The meetings of the revenue department would commence soon after, they added.

 The cash management exercise initiated by the finance ministry in nine departments and ministries during the current fiscal would come handy in finalising their revised expenditure budget, the sources said.

 The preliminary figures available with the ministry showed that their gross expenditure during the first half stood at Rs 33,753 crore, which was one-fourth less than their own projected cash needs of Rs 44,972 crore.

 The ministry had chosen nine high-spend departments including fertilisers, agriculture, human resource development and health and family welfare.

 The sources said the ministry planned to extend the cash management exercise to several other ministries in the next fiscal. This will enable it to have a better grip in the government