Maharashtra interim budget offers power subsidies

Maharashtra's finance minister Jayant Patil presented the interim-budget (for four months) before the state legislature, stating that the gross state domestic product (GSDP) was expected to fall owing to drought conditions.

In his budget speech, Patil said: "The GSDP of Maharashtra is expected to grow by 5.6 per cent during 2003-2004 against 6.1 per cent in the previous fiscal. The fall in growth is attributed to the drought related negative growth rate in the primary sector."

Patil also announced power subsidies for agriculturists reeling under the impact of drought in the state. "The state government has decided to give 100 per cent remission in the current electricity bill to agriculturists in drought-affected villages. Of the total arrears of electricity dues owed by agriculturists of Rs 3000 crore, if agriculturists have paid 50 per cent of the principal amount (Rs 1000 crore), remission of Rs 2000 crore will be available to them for the balance amount. The state government will compensate the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to that extent."

Patil also noted that the Krishi Sanjivani Yojana amnesty scheme launched in Maharashtra since January, where in excess of Rs 700 crore was netted in the first month, had seen MSEB collecting Rs 421 crore in February.

"The annual inflation rate based on the all India wholesale price index for December 2003 is 5.6 per cent compared with 3.3 per cent during December 2002. During the current financial year, the inflation rate based on the all-India consumer price index for industrial workers, which was 5.1 per cent at the beginning of the year, showed an over all decreasing trend and reached 3.7 per cent in December 2003," Patil said.

He also said that average all-India index of industrial production between April and November 2003 showed a growth of 6.2 per cent over that of the previous year, while the corresponding growth for the manufacturing sector was 6.8 per cent.

Patil also said in his budget speech that under the package scheme of incentives, the backlog of small scale industry units up to March 31 2002 in respect of dairy and poultry and the backlog of interest free sales tax loans of processing industry had been cleared by disbursing an additional amount of Rs 143 crore in April 2003.