The states have shown only a marginal improvement in their revenue positions despite their attempts, over the last three years, to extricate themselves from the fiscal mess they are in. Going by the figures, it seems they are a long way off.
Under the Medium Term Fiscal Reforms Programme, initiated by the finance ministry in July 2000, the states were set an annual target of a 5 percentage points reduction in the ratio of revenue deficit to revenue receipts.
The average ratio for the 29 states is down from 26.02 in 1999-2000 to 17.17 in 2002-03
