NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B Ministry) needs to have better planning for improving the benchmark of expenditure, a Parliamentary Committee has said.

The comments of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which also examines the I & B Ministry, are based on the fact that the expenditure registered a little above 50 per cent at the Budgetary Estimates stage, that is, during the first two quarters of 2014-15. 

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s budgetary allocation for 2015-16 is for a total amount of Rs 3,711.11 crore, which includes Rs 914.53 crore for Plan and Rs 2,796.58 crore for Non-Plan. 

The Committee noted that there was an overall increase in the size of the Budget by Rs 3,95.11 crore for the year 2015-16 crore compared to the budgetary support for the year 2014-15 at Budgetary Estimates stage.

A look at the financial performance of the Ministry indicates that they have been able to achieve cent per cent utilisation with respect to revised estimates allocations in the year 2014-15, which the Committee described as “a healthy trend”.