The State continues to incur huge expenditure on interest payments every month. It has made interest payments to the tune of ₹17,080 crore by the end of November, or 96.34%, of the ₹17,729-crore provision towards interest payment made in budget estimates.
According to the provisional figures submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the State is spending close to Rs. 2,000 crore on interest payments every month. With four months left in the current financial year, the State is likely to incur much higher expenditure towards interest payments than the ₹17,729 crore projected in the budget estimates.
The total receipts of the State at the end of November stood at ₹1.41 lakh crore, a little more than 50% of the ₹2.74 lakh crore of the budget estimates. Of these, revenue receipts were ₹1.03 lakh crore and ₹37,878 crore were capital receipts. Borrowings and other liabilities at ₹37,850 crore constituted a major chunk of the capital receipts after eight months.
The non-tax revenues and grants-in-aid and contributions continued to be much below expectations. The non-tax revenue at the end of November was ₹5,217 crore, 14.82% of the ₹35,208 crore of the budget estimates while the grants in aid were pegged at ₹4,529 crore, just 20.93% of the ₹21,656 crore projected for the year.
Revenue through the State Excise duties was impressive at ₹12,364 crore at the end of first eight months although they were yet to reach the half way mark of ₹25,617 crore estimated for the current fiscal. The State’s share of Central taxes too was impressive at ₹11,472 crore, 62.41% of the ₹18,384 crore.
The State’s revenue deficit during the eight-month period stood at ₹14,288 crore as against the ₹297 surplus of the budget estimates and the fiscal deficit was ₹37,850 crore. The primary deficit at the end of November stood at ₹20,769 crore, 65.88% of the ₹31,525 crore estimated in the budget.
Published – January 13, 2025 03:29 am IST
