Even as the finance minister recently stepped in to issue an advisory to curtail unnecessary expenditure, it is learnt that the finance ministry has already used up more than 80 per cent or four-fifth of its funds allocated for foreign travel in the first two quarters itself.

According to senior government officials, Rs 3.3 crore was allocated to the ministry in the Budget this year for foreign travel with an advisory that additional funds should not be requested again in the supplementary demand for grants.

“The ministry has already used up most of its funds under the foreign trips head for the fiscal. It remains to be seen how funds will be raised for future trips for the remaining two quarters,” a senior government official told The Indian Express.

Funds allocated under this head are used for all foreign trips sanctioned in the ministry up to the level of minister of state. The funding for travel of finance minister himself is not included under this head, the official said.

In the past few months there have been numerous trips by finance ministry officials especially to places such as Washington and London. Review meetings have been held by multilateral institutions as well as expenses have been incurred for G-20 meets.

The recent circular issued by the department of expenditure to enforce austerity measures also highlights this point. “It is also observed that Ministries/Departments tend to utilize a disproportionate amount of their travel budget in the first part of the year.

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