The Yogi Adityanath government tabled the 2019-20 annual budget of more than Rs 4.79 lakh crore in the Assembly on Thursday. This budget is almost 12 per cent higher than the current year’s budget of nearly Rs 4.28 lakh crore.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present in the Assembly when Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal read out the budget speech punctuated by Urdu couplets.
The state, however, followed fiscal discipline path and tamed fiscal deficit at Rs 46,910 crore or 2.97 per cent, which is within the mandated three per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.
The government estimated revenue receipt of Rs 77,640 crore from State Goods & Services Tax (SGST) and Value Added Tax (VAT). The Excise duty kitty is expected to be a healthy Rs 31,517 crore in 2019-20.
Considering that Lok Sabha polls are less than 60 days away, the Bharatiya Janata Party government headed by Yogi Adityanath sought to provide liberal doses of funds to all key sectors, especially, agriculture, health, education, energy, social welfare, besides making provisions for free WiFi in universities and degree colleges to keep the young electorate in good humour.
The government also provided adequate funds for infrastructure and its flagship projects to ensure civil works were not affected since the Model Code of Conduct would come into force once the schedule of the Lok Sabha elections are announced.
Addressing the media after Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal tabled the budget in the Assembly, the Chief Minister noted that the budget carried forward the theme of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by focusing on farmers, workers, youth, women and other sections of society.
Yogi claimed that while there was no obligation for the crop loan waiver scheme in the next fiscal, yet the Agriculture department budget had been increased by over 14 per cent over the last one year.
The Chief Minister said that the per capita income in the state had gone up by Rs 5,500 in the last one year. “In 2018, the per capita income was just Rs 50,000 while this year, it has gone up to Rs 55,500, which is a big achievement,” he said.
Yogi, however, said that Kanya Sumangala Scheme, launched in this budget, would be a game changer for women’s uplift as ‘handsome’ money would be given to all girls in the state when they get married or pass graduation.
“The money will be deposited in the accounts of the girls in instalments right from their birth to college graduation, and it would be useful for their marriage,” he said.
Though the Chief Minister claimed that the total budget size was 11.98 per cent more than what was approved in February 2018, if the amount of the two supplementary budgets presented by the government during the current fiscal are added, then the total budgetary provisions for the next fiscal is lower than that of 2018-19.
In 2018-19, the size of the general budget was Rs 4.28 lakh crore and thereafter in August 2018, the government obtained the first supplementary of Rs 34,800 crore and then in December,2018, another Rs 8,000 crore thereby totalling Rs 4.80 lakh crore. The budget size of 2019-20 is only Rs 4.79 lakh crore.
As per the budget estimates for 2019-20, the total receipts would be Rs 4,70,684.48 crore, which includes Rs 3,91,734.40 crore of revenue receipts and Rs 78,950.08 crore of capital receipts. The tax revenue is pegged at Rs 2,93,039.17 crore, including Rs 1,40,176 crore of state’s own tax revenue and Rs 1,52,863.17 crore of the state’s share in Central taxes.
The total state expenditure is estimated at Rs 4,79,701.10 crore which includes Rs 3,63,957.04 crore of revenue expenditure and Rs 1,15,744.06 crore of capital expenditure. A revenue saving of Rs 27,777.36 crore is estimated in 2019-20.
The state’s fiscal deficit has been pegged at Rs 46,910.62 crore in 2019-20. The debt liability is estimated at 29.98 per cent of the state’s GDP.
After deducting total expenditure from the receipts of consolidated fund, a deficit of Rs 9,016.62 crore has been projected for the next fiscal. Net receipts of Rs 9,500 crore are expected from public account.
The closing balance for 2019-20 is estimated at Rs 8,708.85 crore in which the opening balance of Rs 8,225.47 crore was taken into account.