Budgetary deficit estimated at Rs 9,022 crore
The Mayawati government today tabled a tax-free deficit budget for 2010-11 in the state Assembly. The budget has projected a deficit of Rs 9,022 crore against revenue and capital expenditure of Rs 1,53,199 crore and total receipts of Rs 1,44,177 crore.
The government has not proposed any new taxes to bridge the deficit and instead adjusted Rs 7,002 crore from the Public Account, which still leaves a negative balance of Rs 2,020 crore.
However, the fiscal deficit is projected at Rs 22,742 crore in 2010-11, which would be 4.4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product. For the current fiscal, the fiscal deficit is estimated at 5.3 per cent.
Total plan spending of Rs 45,645 crore has been proposed, of which Rs 22,807 crore and Rs 22,838 crore would be spent under revenue and capital expenditure respectively.
An arrangement of Rs 9,099 crore has been made under Special Component Plan for scheduled castes.
The Budget was presented by Finance Minister Lalji Varma. Meanwhile, he also presented supplementary Budget of Rs 3,132 crore for the current 2009-10 fiscal.
Later, addressing a news conference Varma and Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said the state government was able to contain fiscal deficit due to exceptional fiscal discipline.
“Due to the recession, the state government had also undertaken several measures to shore up demand in the economy. However, our deficit is quite low compared to other states and even that of the central government,” he added.Singh said as per Planning Commission, the UP growth rate was 7.2 per cent compared to roughly 6.7 per cent of the Centre, although the state had never availed of any overdraft facility ever since the BSP government came to power in 2007.
“The Value Added Tax (VAT) collections have also grown by 22.53 per cent, since it ensured better tax administration and checked tax evasion,” he said brushing aside suggestions that higher VAT revenue could be a reason for inflation in UP.
