LIVE TV
Odisha
Recommended Stories
Bhubaneswar: Is Odisha on the verge of a ‘financial crisis’ in the current fiscal year? Recently during a meeting of all Secretaries and Special Secretaries in Lok Seva Bhawan, a report presented by Principal Secretary, Finance Department on fiscal performance of the State during 2019-20 till end of October 2019 based on Treasury figures, revealed so.
Odisha government has set a target of collecting Rs 45,500 crore revenue in 2019-20 fiscal year. While the state's own tax collection amount has been fixed at Rs 33,000 crore, the non-tax revenue collection is estimated at Rs 12,500 crore during the 2019-20 fiscal.
If you look at the own tax revenue up to October 2019, lower growth in VAT and negative growth in Electricity Duty have posed concerns for government.
Not only this, the Finance Secretary’s report mentioned that declining growth in Mining Revenue collection in recent months is also a cause of concern. Going by the current trend, we run the risk of non-realisation of budgeted resources, it said.
Total expenditure (other than debt servicing) as percentage of Budget provision is 45% till October, 2019 compared to 46% during previous year. Total Programme expenditure during the period is 44.5% of Budget provision compared to 47% previous year. The Programme expenditure has increased by 9.49% against 15.68% increase in provision.
The Programme Expenditure in Agriculture & allied sector up to October, 2019 is 36.7% of Budget Estimates compared to 36.6% previous year, an increase by about 27% over previous year. Programme expenditure in the infrastructure sector up to October 2019 is 34.5% of Budget Estimates compared to 45.9% previous year. Similarly, Social sector Programme expenditure up to October, 2019 has been 38.7% of BE as compared to previous year expenditure of 54.3%.
As the crucial working season has been lost for model code of conduct, there is a need to gear up expenditure to catch up through expedited execution of work without going for parking of fund in Bank accounts. Funds provided under CSS should be utilized and UC should be submitted on time to ensure smooth flow of Central Assistance.
Revenue earning Departments should emphasize on realization of arrear revenues. If required, they can propose bringing out settlement schemes.
-- Principal Secretary, Finance Department.
Based on these findings, the department has directed to collect pending electricity and water cess from companies and organisations in order to boost revenue growth.
However, State Mining Minister Prafulla Mallick did not acknowledge the reports stating that there is no problem in revenue collection. “The way Finance Ministry is handling the situation in Odisha, I don’t think it will affect the revenue collection. In fact, provisions are being made to increase the revenue. Odisha will not face financial crisis,” he said.
While Odisha government has already decided to converge KALIA with PM-KISAN due to financial crunch, many state government offices and PSUs not complying with TDS & TCS for GST and Income Tax has become another burden for finance department.
It is also being assumed that State’s other flagship schemes like Mission Shakti, Mamata, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and Biju Yuva Vahini would meet a similar fate like KALIA.
On the other hand, expressing concern over ‘financial crisis’, former State Finance Minister Panchanan Kanungo said, “Tax and non tax growth is not in deteriorating stage, rather I would say that it’s already badly hit. The merging of KALIA scheme with Centre’s PM-KISAN is a glaring example. No scheme is being implemented properly here in Odisha.”
CA Rajeev Sahu stated, “If the resources in the budget do not meet the anticipated numbers, it is likely to impact financial condition. But then they have to comply with the financial norms.”
While the current borrowings of the State stand at Rs 87000 crore, finance department has estimated that by the end of this financial year, the total debt burden could touch Rs 1,06,000 crore. For experts, this is a matter of concern for the government and time will tell how it manages the flagship schemes by increasing its income.
