The interim budget outlay for the Financial Year 2019-20 stood at ₹27.8 lakh crore, 13% higher than the Revised Estimates of the FY19 budget.
As is the norm, interest payments on debt accounted for the largest part of the 2020 budget − 24%. Defence spending was the second highest category of expenditure, followed by subsidies (food, fuel and fertiliser subsidies) which accounted for about 10-11% each.
Some components, such as defence, saw an increase in absolute terms, but formed a smaller component of the budget than last time. For instance, defence accounted for 11.62% of the total budget in FY19, but this time, it accounted for 10.97%.
Components like health and agriculture, on the other hand, formed a larger part of the budget this time. Agriculture, which formed 3.52% of the budget last time, cornered 5.39% of the total budget this time.
Development of the Northeast accounted for 0.11% of the total outlay, same as last time.
Here's a break down of the major budget components.
Compared to the previous budget, agriculture and health spending saw the highest increase in percentage terms. Several key Ministries received a boost in their budgets. Here's a look at five of them:
The statement of major variations of expenditure , which is a part of the budget documents, explains the increase in the following manner:
- Rise in Agriculture budget was due to "higher requirements under Income Support Scheme towards providing income support to families of farmers owning cultivable land".
- Defence budget was increased due to higher requirements under pay and allowances and operational expenditure of defence services. However, defence accounted for a lower percentage of the total budget
- The health budget was expectedly increased due to the requirements of the National Rural Health Mission and the flagship health scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
