Uttarakhand Budget to be presented on March 13

The non-Plan expenditure is also likely to increase by 10-20% this year

The Budget session of Uttarakhand Assembly will begin on Wednesday, with state Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh presenting the Budget for 2015-16 on Friday.

The total budgetary expenditure is likely to move above Rs 32,000 crore this year, senior government officials said.

The budgetary allocations for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) department are likely to be doubled. "We are expecting Rs 50-60 crore for the MSME department," said MSME Minister Harish Chandra Durgapal.

However, the non-Plan expenditure is also likely to increase by 10-20 per cent this year.

For this Budget, Chief Minister Harish Rawat during the past fortnight had talked to a cross section of people for their views of the Budget. "We will be incorporating at least 12 such suggestions of the people in the Budget," said Rawat.

Rawat said some of the suggestions like increasing tax and non-tax revenue were good. Though, there had been increase in tax and non tax revenue, especially in the mining sector during the past one-two years, the non-Plan expenditures are zooming alarmingly. On the other hand, the interest on loans is also increasing year by year.

The government officials said the Budget is likely to meet the obligations of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budged Management (FRBM) Act, where the fiscal deficit will be below three per cent of the state gross domestic product (GSDP). In the last year's Budget also, the fiscal deficit was 2.92 per cent.

"Yes, this time also we will meet all the FRBM Act obligations," said the official. Budget estimates of 2014-15 had showed a revenue surplus of Rs 682.43 core which was in conformity to the FRBM Act targets. Similarly, fiscal deficit had been estimated to the tune of Rs 4,075.83 crore, 2.97 per cent of the GSDP in the last budget.