PANJIM: Reading the Budget speech amidst the din by the Opposition in the House, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on Thursday presented a revenue surplus Budget of Rs 353.61 crore. The chief minister also pegged Goa’s growth rate of GSDP to be at 8.6 percent for 2020-21.
In his speech the chief minister did not propose any new announcements or schemes. He said the priority of the Budget was mining resumption, avenues in hinterland, medical and eco-tourism, ease of living, ease of doing business, Goa as a convention destination and education hub.
The chief minister also did not introduce any major tax proposals and marginally increased excise duties and licence fees for liquor retail, wholesale and bars and restaurants. Sawant said he estimates to increase revenue by Rs 150 cr from the increase of excise duties and fees.
The chief minister also proposed to increase the value of stamp duty of swearing on affidavit from Rs 50 to Rs 100 and to increase fees on notified land rates, increase in conversion fees also increase in court fees.
As per the budgetary figures, the total gross budgetary expenditure works out to Rs 21,056.35 crore, as against the budgetary estimate of Rs 19,548.69 crore for 2019-20.
Of the total estimated expenditure, Rs 14,906.34 crore is towards revenue account and Rs 5,069.32 crore is towards the capital account, the chief minister said. He said revenue receipts for the current fiscal year are estimated at Rs 15,081.03 crore.
For every rupee that comes in, 50.2 per cent comes from the State’s own tax and non-tax revenue, 15 per cent is through grants-in-aid from the Centre, 19.2 per cent through share in Central taxes and 15.6 per cent through borrowings and other liabilities.
The estimates state that out of every rupee earned, approximately 36.9 per cent goes towards salaries, wages, pension, gratuity and grant-in-aid, 2 per cent towards subsidies, whereas 12.7 per cent goes towards debt servicing. After considering other such committed expenditure, just 28.5 per cent is utilised towards developmental works and maintenance of existing infrastructure.
The gross fiscal deficit maintained for the current fiscal year i.e 2020-2021 is 2.01 per cent which is well within prescribed norm of three per cent, the chief minister said. The GSDP estimates at current prices for 2020-21 (advanced) are estimated at Rs 92,260.53 crore.
“I would like to take Goas GSDP to 1 lakh crore by next year,” he said.
Goas per capita income (advanced) at current prices is Rs 5.92 lakh, which is the highest in the country.
On public debt, the chief minister said that Reserve Bank of India has been managing the borrowing programme of Goa. The liabilities have been growing gradually, however, the sustained public expenditure by the State has a high multiplier effect on the State economy, he said, adding that the outstanding debt is expected to remain under the ceiling set by FRBM Act. Goa has been borrowing within the limits set by the Centre.
Sawant said there is regular contribution to the Consolidated Sinking Fund (CSF) and Guaranteed Redemption Fund (GRF) with RBI as a buffer for repayment of debt liabilities. I am conscious of the fact that borrowed resources have to be wisely used in projects and programmes with revenue and employment generating potential. The share of revenue under GST and VAT constitutes 50 per cent of the total revenue of the State, he said.
Sawant said the current deficit in the GST revenue is compensated by the Centre for the first five years of GST implementation. I have formally requested the 15th Finance Commission to extend the compensation for a further period of five years, he said.
The chief minister said the State has a limited tax base through which revenue can be augmented. However, he added, he has been taking special efforts to plug the leakages and improve efficiency in tax collections.
GST collections in the month of January 2020 have crossed protected revenue of 14 per cent growth. With the ongoing trend and tightened enforcement, similar growth is expected for the coming months. It is also my endeavour to contain the expenditure only for essential purposes without compromising on the welfare of the State, he said.
He also pointed out that nearly 3,000 litigations are pending at appellate and various courts under the earlier laws of VAT, CST, Luxury Tax, Entry Tax and Entertainment Tax. The limitation to finish assessment under these Acts is up to June 2020.
In order to expedite the legacy assessments and recovery of arrears in litigated cases, I propose to introduce Settlement Scheme as declared by many other States and Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) by Government of India, he said.
