Uttarakhand finance minister Indira Hridayesh on Wednesday presented the state budget for the financial year 2013-14 with a total expenditure of Rs 25,329.84 crore. The finance minister also announced a series of tax reliefs like a 25 per cent stamp duty exemption for women while purchasing property worth upto Rs 30 lakh.
The budget has a deficit of 2.92 per cent, which is within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) target of three per cent.
Amid pandemonium over the industrial land scam and the Bhati commission report, the finance minister took pride of presenting the revenue surplus budget of Rs 901.52 crore with an aim to follow the fiscal reforms.
"We have tried to present a balance budget with fiscal deficit is 2.92 per cent in order to follow the targets of FRBM Act," Hridayesh said.
Total receipts in 2013-14 are estimated to be Rs 24,940.32 crore as against Rs 21043 crore in 2012-13 showing an increase of 18.52 percent. Total expenditure is estimated to be Rs 25329.84 crore showing an increase of 15.49 percent.
Non-plan expenditure this time is estimated be Rs 16619.46 crore which is 65.61 percent of total expenditure. This shows an increase of 11.67 percent against budget estimates of Rs 14882.81 crore in the last year. Plan expenditure is estimated to be Rs 8710.38 crore showing an increase of 23 percent.
Capital expenditure is estimated to be Rs 7275.64 crore in 2013-14 as against budget estimates of Rs 6214.66 crore in 2012-13 showing an increase of 17.07 percent.
Assessment related to luxury tax for hotels will be done annually instead of half-yearly. VAT on fruit wine has been reduced to five percent from 32.5 percent.
Hridayesh also focused on the gender budgeting to ensure sufficient funds on women centric schemes with an objective of empowering women. Gender budget this time has a provision of Rs 3262 crore which is 46 percent higher than 2012-13.
