India sitting over Rs 1 lakh cr of unused aid: CAG

India is sitting on unused foreign aid of over Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) reflecting inadequate planning by ministries like urban development, water resources and energy, a report by government auditor CAG has said.

"As on March 31, 2010, unutilised committed external assistance was of the order of Rs 1,05,339 crore (Rs 1,053.39 billion)," the Comptroller and Auditor said in its report tabled in Parliament on Friday.

The government has paid commitment charges of Rs 86.11 crore (Rs 861.1 million) during 2009-10 in the form of penalty for not timely utilising the aid approved by multilateral and bilateral lending agencies.

"Inadequate planning resulted in avoidable expenditure in the form of commitment changes amounting to over Rs 86 crore (Rs 860 million)," said the CAG report.

The report has outlined 16 sectors which sit on unutilised external assistance to the tune of Rs 1.05 lakh crore (Rs 1.05 trillion).

The sectors include urban development (23,883 crore or Rs 238.83 billion), roads (Rs 11,617 crore or Rs 116.17 billion), agriculture and rural development (Rs 9,557 crore or Rs 95.57 billion), water supply and sanitation (Rs 8,995 crore or Rs 89.95 billion) and power (Rs 7,959 crore or Rs 79.59 billion).

Besides, sectors like railways, health, environment and forestry, atomic energy and rural development too had substantial amount of unutilised foreign assistance.

Among others, India receives financial assistance from World Bank, Asian Development Bank and from developed countries like Japan, France and Germany.

According to the CAG report, the government during 2009-10 paid commitment charges of Rs 53.26 crore (Rs 532.6 million) to the ADB and Rs 27.28 crore (Rs 272.8 million) to the World Bank, besides others, for delay in utilisation of approved assistance.

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