Interim Budget 2019: Rs 25k-cr petroleum subsidies may be carried over

This comes even as it is under pressure to meet a challenging fiscal deficit target of no more than 3.3% of GDP for 2018-19

The government could carry over as much as Rs 25,000 crore in pending petroleum subsidy payments to the coming financial year (2019-20, beginning April 1), as much as the budgeted estimate for 2018-19, Business Standard has learnt.

This comes even as it is under pressure to meet a challenging fiscal deficit target of no more than 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018-19.

For FY19, this subsidy was budgeted at Rs 24,933 crore — comprising Rs 20,377 crore for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or cooking gas) and Rs 4,555 crore for kerosene. Sources indicate that in the