AUSTERITY BREEDS PROSPERITY
Planning, Quality and Speed—the state has adopted these three core values to reach the top of the ladder
In 2016-17, Maharashtra registered 10 per cent economic growth, as per its economy survey report. Having received 94 per cent of the annual average rainfall, the state recorded an agricultural growth of 12.5 per cent during the same period while the industry and services sectors registered growth of 6.5 and 9.7 per cent, respectively.
The state’s decision to reduce the number of permissions from 75 to 23 to start new businesses has also paid off. During the past four years, it has received foreign investment worth Rs 3,94,886 crore, which, according to the RBI, is 31 per cent of the total foreign investment in the country. Industry minister Subhash Desai says the state is at the number one position not only in getting foreign investment, but also in converting ‘investment intention’ into real investments.
State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar attributes the state’s success in improving its economy to three characteristics: PQS, or Planning, Quality and Speed. For the next year, growth is expected to be at 7.3 per cent in spite of the huge amount spent on the farmers’ loan waiver as well as rain deficiency. The state’s revenue has increased by 39.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year as compared with the first quarter of last year because of the Goods and Service Tax (GST). The state also earned revenue worth Rs 25,742 crore between April and June 2017. This year, it earned Rs 35,915 crore during the same period. The state faced its biggest financial challenge in 2017 when it announced a loan waiver of Rs 32,000 crore for farmers. However, it managed to save around Rs 11,000 crore by identifying ghost farmers’ accounts and by linking the loan waiver scheme to mandatory disclosure of identity of the beneficiaries. Further, as more than 50 per cent of the beneficiary farmers did not opt for the one-time settlement scheme, the state did not pay them the loan waiver amount.
“There is no dearth of money, but we have focused on austerity,” says Mungantiwar.