The State Government is likely to face an uphill task in mobilising resources to meet its immediate financial requirements for the current fiscal thanks to the steep cut imposed by the Union Finance Ministry on the quantum of open market borrowings.
The State Government has lined up a series of programmes including Dalit Bandhu, one-of-its-kind scheme for financial empowerment of dalits, with a one time grant of ₹10 lakh to each family. The government had earmarked ₹17,700 crore in the budget for the ambitious scheme and coupled with this is the Rythu Bandhu, farmers investment support scheme, entailing an expenditure close to ₹15,000 crore for the current fiscal.
Expenditure on salaries and wages to different cadres of employees and pensioners for the current year is pegged in excess of ₹40,000 crore while debt servicing would cost another ₹18,911 crore. Given the magnitude of the funds required, the State Government is likely to face difficulties in raising resources.
The government could release the first instalment of Rythu Bandhu after the Union Finance Ministry’s clearance to raise OMBs of ₹10,000 crore in three tranches till July first week. Adding to the woes, receivables in the form of grants in aid and contributions so also non-tax revenue were not up to the expected levels.
While the revenue through grants in aid and contributions was pegged at ₹41,001 crore for the current fiscal, contribution under the head was barely ₹291 crore at the end of May, achieving just 0.71 per cent of the target. The situation was no different during the previous fiscal when the State could realise ₹8,619 crore of the projected ₹38,669 crore through grants in aid and contributions.
The same was the case with non-tax revenue which was pegged at ₹8,857 crore against the ₹30,557 crore budget estimates during the previous financial year. Receivables under the non tax revenue stood at ₹913 crore for the first two months against ₹25,421 crore projected for the fiscal, an achievement of just 3.59 per cent, according to the data presented to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
The State Government has no doubt initiated measures to strengthen and streamline its own revenue sources. Steps had been initiated for sale of Rajiv Swagruha flats, lands under the possession of HMDA, enhancement of life tax on vehicles, liquor prices and other measures to augment state’s own revenue, but doubts still persist on whether the targetted revenue could be achieved at the end of the fiscal.
