The fact that Delhi continues to be a revenue-surplus state would help the city government reduce its fiscal deficit by around 18 per cent in 2012-13 over the previous financial year, despite a jump in capital expenditure. It would also help the government reduce debt and not take fresh loans from small savings schemes in 2012-13.
The state’s capital expenditure would rise primarily due to the construction of roads and bridges, and the allocation to the road transport and social sectors.
In the Budget for 2012-13, the state's excess of revenue receipts over expenditure is projected to rise 67.3 per cent to Rs 6,105 crore, compared with Rs 3,648 crore in the revised estimate of the previous financial year. Compared with Rs 10,642 crore in 2010-11, the surplus revenue had declined 65 per cent in 2011-12.
The fiscal deficit for 2012-13 is pegged at Rs 2,604 crore, lower than Rs 3,177 crore in 2011-12, when it accounted for 1.01 per cent of the gross state domestic product.
The fiscal deficit would have been much higher, had it not been for the state’s revenue-surplus position. This is because the state’s capital expenditure is estimated to rise 23 per cent to Rs 10,738 crore in 2012-13, compared with Rs 8,704 crore in 2011-12 (revised estimate). Capital expenditure in 2010-11 stood at Rs 11,142 crore.
In 2012-13, Rs 1,630 crore would be spent on the social sector, 118 per cent more than the Rs 757 crore in 2011-12. The expenditure on roads and bridges is estimated at Rs 1,450 crore, against Rs 1,000 crore in 2011-12. Capital outlay for the road transport sector is pegged at Rs 990 crore.
The state’s revenue expenditure is projected to rise 19 per cent to Rs 2,2697 crore in 2012-13, compared with Rs 19,065 crore in 2011-12. Owing to the surplus revenue, the Delhi government plans to reduce loans on its books by Rs 1,300 crore to Rs 28,308 crore. The state’s loans declined from Rs 30,140 crore as on March 31 2011 to Rs 29,608 crore a year later.
The increased capital expenditure is not likely to be financed by loans from small savings schemes. “The Budget for the current year places zero dependence on small savings loans," Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who also holds the finance portfolio, said, while tabling the Budget yesterday.
The state's debt-GSDP ratio fell from 16.04 per cent in 2007-08 to 9.43 per cent, the lowest in the country, in 2011-12.
Plan allocation for 2012-13 is estimated to be lower than non-Plan expenditure, owing to non-Plan loans of Rs 1,831 crore after the trifurcation of Delhi municipal corporations and additional provisions of Rs 275 crore for devolution to local bodies. While Plan expenditure is estimated at Rs 15,168 crore, non-Plan allocation is pegged at Rs 18,268 crore. The previous Budget had an estimated Plan outlay of Rs 13,600 crore and non-Plan expenditure of Rs 13,307 crore.
