Finance Minister Sitharaman moves Appropriation Bills in Rajya Sabha

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday moved the Appropriation (No.5) Bill, 2022, and Appropriation (No.4) Bill, 2022, in the Rajya Sabha to authorise payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2022-2023 for consideration and return.

The Appropriation Bill gives power to the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for meeting the expenditure during the financial year.

The Appropriation (No.5) Bill, 2022, is to provide for authorisation payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2022-2023, as passed by Lok Sabha, for consideration and returned.

The Appropriation (No.4) Bill, 2022, is to provide for the authorisation of appropriation of money out of the consolidated fund of India to meet the amounts spent on certain services during the financial year ended on March 31, 2020, in excess of the amounts granted for those services and for that year, as passed by Lok Sabha, for consideration and return.

The Consolidated Fund of India is the most important of all government accounts. Revenues received by the government and expenses made by it, excluding the exceptional items, are part of the Consolidated Fund. The fund was constituted under Article 266 (1) of the Constitution of India.

In another development, Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that scheduled commercial banks have written off loans amounting to Rs 10,09,511 crore in the last five financial years and the process of recovery of dues from the borrowers continues.

Nirmala Sitharaman said the recovery in non-performing asset (NPA) accounts, including written-off loans, was an ongoing process.

(ANI)

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