Maharashtra Finance Minister Dilip Walse-Patil today presented the interim budget for the financial year 2009-10 with a Rs 8,462-crore revenue deficit. The budget estimates showed revenue sources were drying up and would fetch Rs 2,159 crore less than in the previous year.
As per the revised estimates for 2008-09, the state government expects to raise Rs 82,869 crore from various sources of taxes, grants from the central government and loans from various financial institutions. However, it will be able to mop up only Rs 80,710 crore from all these sources during FY10.
While the state government is expecting a reduction in revenues, expenditure is likely to rise by a whopping Rs 10,567 crore. Of the Rs 10,567 crore, the state’s wage bill will account for Rs 8,500 crore on account of the implementation of the VIth Pay Commission recommendations.
In his maiden budget speech, Walse-Patil also admitted that while the state’s gross domestic product (SGDP) has grown in 2007-08 at 9 per cent, it was expected to come down to a little over 6 per cent during the current financial year.
Though the Planning Commission has not finalised the plan outlay for the state due to the coming general elections, the state is expecting it to be around Rs 26,000 crore and has made provisions accordingly in the interim budget. During the current financial year, the state plan outlay was Rs 25,000 crore, which was higher by 23 per cent compared to the last financial year. The Planning Commission had approved a higher outlay on account of a robust growth shown by the state in tax collections.
Pointing out that the expenditure on infrastructure can provide impetus to the state economy, Patil said that he proposed to make a provision of Rs 400 crore for urban infrastructure.
He has provided Rs 200 crore as seed capital to the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) for the development of airports at Jalgaon, Solapur and Shirdi. He has provided for irrigation projects (Rs 2,287 crore) and the energy sector (Rs 163 crore).
He insisted that these were interim allocations only and might revisit them when presenting the full-fledged budget after the elections.
He also said that after the 26/11 terror attacks, the state government immediately made available Rs 126 crore for police modernisation and assured a substantially increase in the final budget.
