By Arun Pratap Singh
Bhararisain, 15 Mar: On the third day of the budget session, today, Finance Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal tabled the budget amounting to Rs 77,407.08 crores for the Financial Year 2023-24 on behalf of the Dhami Government. This is the first full budget of the current Dhami Government as, last year, due to elections, the budget was tabled as a Vote on Account, and then a budget for the remaining months. The budget last year was tabled in the month of June.
Yesterday, the government had tabled the Economic Survey for the state for the current financial year in the House. The budget reflects an estimated fiscal deficit of Rs 9,046.91 crores.
Like last year, this year, too, the budget tabled today by Finance Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal claims that it is a revenue surplus budget with a budgeted revenue surplus of Rs 4,309.55 crores. While the total receipts (income) of the government in the year 2023-24 are budgeted at Rs 76,592.54 crores, the total revenue receipts for the FY 2023-24 are expected to be Rs 57,057.26crores, while the total capital receipts for the year 2023-24 is budgeted at Rs 19,535.28 crores. The total revenue generation by the state during the FY 2023-24 from the state’s own resources is budgeted at Rs 24,744.31 crores which is only marginally higher than last year. Non-tax revenue expected to be generated by the state during the current financial year is expected to be Rs 4,761.63 crores, which is likely to remain lower than the budgeted amount of Rs 5,520 crores for last year and even lower than the revised estimates for last year, which stand at Rs 4,976.95 crores. To sum up the revenue budget, the total receipts for the year 2023-24 are budgeted at 18.44 percent higher than the financial year 2022-23.
As compared to the revenue, the total expenditure on the other hand is budgeted by the state government during the FY 2023-24 at Rs 77,407.08 crores. This is 18.05 percent higher than the budgeted expenditure for the year 2022-23. Of the total expenditure, an amount of Rs 52,747.71 crores is expected to be incurred under revenue head, while the total expenditure expected to be incurred on capital account is Rs 24,659.37 crores.
A very significant amount of expenditure, roughly over 24.98 percent, is expected to be incurred on salaries of the state government employees at Rs 16,681.59 crores. On the other hand, expenditure of Rs 7,244.95 crores is expected to be incurred on pensions of retired government employees. This amount does not include many allowances such as Travelling Allowance and remuneration paid to non-permanent employees, etc.
As the government borrowings have remained high in the past decade, the government is expected to incur an expenditure of around Rs 6,161.41 crores on interest payments against borrowings during the current financial year. Out of the total capital expenditure of Rs 24,659.37 crores, which includes expenditure for capital and assets generation, the budget amount for loan repayment is Rs 1,525.58 crores, which leaves little scope for any significant hike in development related and capital generation expenditure. The state has to depend on central aid for most of its development expenditure and the budget amounts shown in the budget amount for various heads of expenditure under various departments also reflects the central aid on those heads. One significant point is that the total internal debt of the government is estimated at Rs 1.8 lakh crores at the end of the FY 2023-24, while the total public debt of the government is estimated to be Rs 1.94 lakh crores by the end of FY 2023-24.
While the government has claimed a revenue surplus budget to the tune of Rs 4,309.55 crores, the total fiscal deficit is expected to be Rs 9,046.91 crores and the total estimated primary deficit is expected to be Rs 2885.51 crores.
The Finance Minister has claimed that the fiscal deficit it within the prescribed limits under Fiscal Liability and Budget Management Act.
Around 24.98 percent of the total budget expenditure will be incurred on salaries, wages and establishment expenditure. As much as 9.6 percent of total budget expenditure is expected to be incurred on investment.
Some major budget provisions include Rs 4,217.87 crores on health, medical and family welfare; Rs 10,459.55 crores on education, sports and youth welfare; Rs 2525.69 crores on Housing, Urban Development and Water Supply; Rs 1294.15 crores on Agriculture and allied sectors; Rs 815.665 crores on Horticulture; Rs 617.43 crores on Animal Husbandry; Rs 2791.83 crores on PWD; Rs 140.33 crores on the Information Department; Rs 552.86 crores on Labour & Employment; Rs 2561.88 crores on the Police and Home Department and Jails; Rs 3272.53 crores on Rural Development; Rs 1,443.42 crores on Irrigation and Flood Control; Rs 461. 31 crores on Industries; Rs 453.77 crores on Transport; Rs 1251.33 crores on Power; Rs 930.11 crores on Food; Rs 302.04 crores on Tourism; Rs 2850 crores on Welfare schemes; Rs 1081.58 crores on the Forest Department, and Rs 81.26 crores on the Excise Department.
