Hasmukh Adhia panel suggests Gujarat reorient budget towards services

State must increase spending on tourism, IT, financial services, education and sports.

A panel set up to suggest how Gujarat could assist India in becoming a $5-trillion economy has said the state budget must focus on services and increase spending on education, sports, art and culture.

The panel, chaired by India’s former finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia, said Gujarat has the resources to increase spending in these sectors as its fiscal deficit is better than other states.

The state is expected to go to the polls by the year-end.

"Given that the next source of growth would be services, more efforts would be needed to enhance spending on services," said the panel said