Khattar’s title track focuses on edu, health

~1.42 LAKH CRORE BUDGET Decrease in capital expenditure, jump in revenue deficit, debt liability remain big areas of worry for govt

CHANDIGARH : The first budget of the BJP-JJP government in Haryana, presented by chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday, had some new offerings to adorn his maiden venture as finance minister.

In his marathon two-and-ahalf hour speech in Hindi in the state assembly here, Khattar said the Rs1.42 lakh crore budget has been prepared with a focus on education, health, agriculture and security.

Where it fell short on promise was on account of Rs 1,534 crore decrease in the proposed capital expenditure needed for assets creation in 2020-21 fiscal.

This coupled with Rs 3,351 crore jump in the revenue deficit (as compared to 2019-20 estimates) is certainly not a buoyant feature of the financial scheme of things. The chief minister though said he was confident of reversing the trend of revenue deficit.

After holding an extensive consultative process with various stakeholders for over a month, the chief minister introduced a scheme providing modern public facilities in select cities, monthly sum of Rs 1,250 per person for migrated Kashmiri families, reduction in power tariff for agriculture dependent activities, enhanced scholarship amount for school students, making chemotherapy available in all district hospitals, in the budget document. Khattar also said he has incorporated 70% suggestions he had received from various stakeholders, including legislators, during consultations.

In this budget, there has been an increase of 31.7% and 23% on education and health, respectively,

he added.

Though the chief minister was forceful in his defence quoting higher capital expenditure statistics than documented by his own finance department during a media briefing, the budget documents showed a clear decrease in the capital expenditure for 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20.

The 2020-21 revenue deficit is estimated to be at about Rs 15,373 crore, constituting 1.64 % of GSDP. The fiscal deficit is estimated to be at Rs 25,681 crore which constituted 2.73 % of GSDP. The debt liability is likely to go up to Rs 1,98,699 crore as on March 2021 from Rs 176831 crore as on March 2020, constituting 21.14 % of the GSDP.

“We have succeeded in reversing the trend of increasing revenue deficit. This is evident from the fact that the revenue deficit was 2.83% of GSDP in 2016-17, 1.63 % of the GSDP in 2017-18 and 1.54% of GSDP in 2018-19. Also are debt liability is within the limit of 25 % of GSDP,’’ an optimistic Khattar said,

The total liabilities projected at Rs 2,35,068 crore (including deposits and advances) and the total assets as on March 2021 are likely to be quantified at Rs 1,26,468 crore indicating a net addition of Rs 9,393 crore on March 2021. Thus, the liabilities, as on March 2021, are likely to be in excess of the assets by Rs 1,08,599 crore.