Haryana limps back to fiscal normalcy, CM says able to meet routine expenses
CHANDIGARH: The cash-strapped Haryana government is looking to break even after the resumption of large-scale economic activity outside the containment zones in the state. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that the financial condition of the state government had started to improve.
“We are now in a position to pay for our routine expenses, including salaries, pensions, social security pension, power subsidy,” he added.
The state government spends anything between ₹6,200 to ₹7,500 crore every month on payment of salaries, pensions of retired employees, social security pensions, wages to contractual employees, rural electrification and domestic subsidy, and payment of interest and debt.
Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, however, said the state government was still short on financial resources and would have to raise money from the market to undertake development activity.
Till May, the Haryana government was heavily dependent on market borrowings for running its day-to-day affairs. The state government had raised ₹5,000 crore in April and ₹2,000 crore in May from the market to tide over the fiscal crisis.
Finance department officials said till June 9, the state government had been able to garner a revenue of ₹2,745 crore. The revenue collection target for June is about ₹6,968 crore. “We expect to get some more money from our share in central taxes and goods and services tax (GST) compensation in June also,” said an official.
The state government, which had initially projected a measly ₹1,982 crore revenue target in May, actually earned ₹3,014 crore, thanks to devolution of funds from its share in central taxes and GST compensation.
The state government is expecting a disbursement of ₹1,337 crore as GST compensation by the Centre. A cess is levied by the central government for providing compensation to the states for the loss of revenue arising on account of implementation of GST. The compensation cess is a levy collected on supply of select goods and/or services or both, and will remain so till July 2022.
“We have earned ₹1,568 crore from GST, including the compensation part, till June 9, about ₹200 crore from excise duty and ₹100 crore from stamps and registration. Our target is to collect another ₹4,200 crore in next three weeks,” said another official.
The revenue collection in April was about ₹2,449 crore, while the revenue expenditure was about ₹6,943 crore, statistics reveal.