Amid high expectation from the people of Haryana, the BJP Government on Tuesday presented its maiden budget for the fiscal 2015-16 proposing no new taxes and made no big-ticket announcements.
The Government proposed to remove the VAT (value added tax) on bio-fertilisers and reduce the rate of VAT on lED lights, pipe-fittings and prefabricated steel structures from 12.5 per cent to 5 per cent, which will result in an additional burden of around Rs21000 crore to the state exchequer.
The projected revenue deficit for the fiscal 2015-16 has been put at Rs9,499.96 crore while it was projected at Rs5,012.57 crore in 2014-15. The budget shows a revenue deficit of Rs9,557.52 crore. This was the maiden budget of Manohar lal Khattar led BJP Government in Haryana which came to power riding a clear mandate in the Assembly polls held in October last year.
While the list of promises made in BJP’s election manifesto was endless, the BJP led State Government later claimed of receiving a shattered economy and lacking the financial wiggle room, made no major announcement in its budget for fiscal 2015-16.
The State Government has proposed Rs25,743.46 crore for the annul plan for 2015-16 including Central assistance of Rs5106.21 crore, which is less than the proposed plan estimates of Rs32,731.29 crore made in fiscal 2014-15.
Setting his sight high on double-digit growth in the next couple of years in Haryana, the State Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu presenting the budget said that whimsical and myopic planning has been replaced by long term vision, coordinated planning, monitoring and evaluation for sustained development.
The total expenditure (excluding repayments) in fiscal 2015-16 is projected at Rs69,140.29 crore, of which revenue expenditure is Rs61,869.62 crore and capital expenditure Rs7,270.67 crore, said Capt. Abhimanyu while adding that Rs17,060.56 crore will be spent on salaries, Rs5,900 crore will be consumed by pensions and Rs8,563.75 crore by interest payments.
“Mana ki andhera ghana hai, Par diya jalana kaha mana hai,” said the Finance Minister claiming that the State Government has inherited an ailing and debt-laden economy with coffers virtually empty. As per revised estimates (RE) 2014-15, the State debt liabilities are estimated at Rs81,836.04 crore, which would go up to Rs9,8842.62 crore in fiscal 2015-16.
“The revenue deficit is expected to about 2.10 per cent in RE 2014-15 and about 1.83 per cent of GSDP in fiscal 2015-16. The fiscal deficit of the state is projected in RE 2014-15 at 3.46 per cent of GSDP and likely to be go down at 3.14 per cent of GSDP in fiscal 2015-16,” he added.
Elaborating, Capt Abhimanyu said that as per budget estimates 2015-16, total receipts are projected at Rs68,985.87 crore including Rs52,312.10 crore revenue and Rs16,673.77 crore capital. The receipts are pegged at Rs12,877.81 crore more when compared to revised estimates of the current fiscal.
Through its maiden budget, Manohar lal Khattar led Haryana Government vowed to accelerate the pace of development, take giant steps towards prosperity by addressing grey areas and create ample opportunities for growth of citizens of the State.
“The State Government is adopting a course correction. The Government would reduce non-plan expenditure while capital expenditure would be raised for asset creation. At the same time, no compromise would be made on growth of economy and development,” said the Finance Minister while talking to the mediapersons after presenting the budget.
He added, “The Government will constitute the 5th State Finance Commission soon to recommend the devolution pattern for the period 2016-17 to 2020-21.”
Major challenges facing economy
listing the challenges the state economy is facing, Capt Abhimanyu while presenting the State budget for fiscal 2015-16 on Tuesday said agricultural productivity had been stagnating, the contribution of primary sector to GSDP had gone down drastically, return from agriculture has reduced and indebtedness of farmers has increased.
He said that soil health and water use for agriculture caused concern and imbalanced use of fertilisers in the context of the existing cropping pattern has led to deterioration in soil health. Over-exploitation of ground water has depleted underground water resources and the prospect of unsustainability of use of groundwater looms large.Apart from this, regional disparities in growth are clearly visible in the State.
This is evident from the data regarding skewed State resource allocation and imbalanced industrial investment, disparate employment opportunities across regions and the per capita income. A related challenge is the lack of employment opportunities in the rural areas, he added.
The policies for change of land use and licensing for real estate development have failed to respond to the field realities. Disposal of urban solid waste and management of industrial as well as household effluents will be areas of priority and the government shall strive to create a model of sustainable development, said he.
In sum, the white paper has brought out that the last decade has been a decade of lost opportunities. The failure to address the emerging challenges led to structural imbalances in the state economy, he added.