The Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana on Monday refrained from imposing any new taxes in budget 2017-18 while announcing taxation relief for several products and launching two major schemes.
Presenting his third budget, Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu proposed Rs 102329.35 crore budget for next fiscal 2017-18, comprises 21.88 per cent as capital expenditure of Rs 22393.51crore and 78.12 per cent as revenue expenditure of Rs 79935.84 crore.
This is the first time in the state that the budget has crossed the figure of Rs 1 lakh crore, excluding foodgrain procurement operations, said the Finance Minister.
While announcing no new taxes in the budget, the State Government has decided to make bio diesel (B-100) and solar devices and parts used in installation of solar power projects tax-free by exempting them from the levy of VAT.
Apart from this, in a fine balancing act between the Jat and non-Jat community, two major schemes namely “Deenbandhu Haryana Gram Uday Yojana” and “Mangal Nagar Vikas Yojana” have been announced by the Haryana Government.
Pegging the fiscal deficit for year 2017-18 at Rs 17571.84 crore and revenue deficit at Rs 11124.96 crore, the Finance Minister proposed to create a dedicated “Asset Augmentation Fund” for strengthening public assets in the state.
Capt. Abhimanyu said that it would be for the first time that the State Government would also have its Asset Management Cell to keep a record of the properties of the Government in the State and outside, which would help in their effective management.
Similarly, Asset Augmentation Fund would also be set up for the rejuvenation and upkeep of old buildings like schools, colleges and hospitals, he said.
The Finance Minister said that on the pattern of the Union Government initiatives, the State Government has also decided to dispense with the plan and non-plan classification of expenditure and presented the budget in terms of revenue and capital classification this time.
Stating that the Government has identified nine priority areas, he said that the budget proposed hiked allocations to key sectors like agriculture, panchayats and rural development, irrigation, education and health sector.
Elaborating, he said that that a major chunk of Rs 14,571 crore has been allocated to education, sports, art and culture sector in the budget while Rs 10,893,36 crore has been proposed for agriculture, irrigation and rural development.
In order to provide seamless and expeditious health services to the serving and retired employees, the Government intends to explore the possibility of introducing “Cashless Health Insurance Scheme” or State employees and pensioners, he said.
On giving the benefit of the Seventh Central Pay Commission recommendations to about 2.50 lakh state employees and 2.25 lakh pensioners with effect from January 1, 2016, Capt Abhimanyu said that total financial implication of these enhancements comes to about Rs 2500 crore per annum on state exchequer.
Presenting the budget in the golden jubilee year of the state, Capt. Abhimanyu announced “Deenbandhu Haryana Gram Uday Yojana”, a new scheme in the name of Haryana Jat leader, late Choudhry Chhotu Ram.
The scheme proposed to develop about 1500 villages having population between 3,000 to 10,000 by providing necessary physical, social and economic infrastructure facilities at par with the urban areas, in a phased manner within three years, with an outlay of Rs 5000 crore. For 2017-18, allocation of Rs 1200 crore has been made for
this scheme.
Another new scheme “Mangal Nagar Vikas Yojana”, in the name of late Mangal Sein, a non-Jat, former Deputy Chief Minister and RSS Pracharak is announced to create modern infrastructure and for maintenance of existing infrastructure in urban areas. An outlay of Rs 1000 crore has been allocated for this scheme in 2017-18, to begin with.
On the performance of the economy during the last two years, Capt. Abhimanyu said, “The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) which is estimated to have logged a growth rate of 8.7 per cent in 2016-17 is poised to touch 9 per cent growth rate in 2017-18.
GSDP growth rate never touched 9 per cent during the last five years of the previous regime, said he.
The Finance Minister further said that the per capita income (PCI) at current prices is projected at Rs 2,00,400 for 2017-18 while it was projected at Rs 1,80,174 during advance estimates for 2016-17.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation
Haryana Government expects revenue from VAT of about Rs 8,500 crore in the first quarter and about Rs 22,000 crore from the second to fourth quarters of fiscal 2017-18 from implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), indicating growth rate of 15.5 per cent over revised estimates (RE) of 2016-17.
Besides, resources to the tune of Rs 6,100crore from State Excise Duty, Rs 3,900 crore from Stamp & Registration Fee, and Rs 2,400 crore from tax on vehicle are also expected to be mobilized, said Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu.
Presenting his budget proposals for 2017-18 in the state assembly, he said that GST, a uniform nation-wide IT driven indirect tax system, is a major taxation reform in the country, likely to be implemented from July 1, 2017.
Capt Abhimanyu said, Haryana Government is fully prepared for implementation of the GST system. The Excise and Taxation Department has already hired a system integrator for the purpose of development of the requisite software and deployment of hardware.
All officers of the department have been properly trained with regard to the GST provisions. Currently, the process of migration of the existing dealers under VAT to GST is going on in the state, he added.
Rs 1,000 crore earmarked for SYl
For the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna link (SYl) canal to bring rightful share of the state in the Ravi-Beas waters, the State Government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the purpose.
Capt Abhimanyu also assured the House that if Rs 1,000 crore is required for SYl construction, the government will provide the same. He said that the Supreme Court had on February 22, 2017 reiterated that the interim order passed on November 30, 2016 would continue to operate until further orders.