Ghadei presents Rs 44878 crore budget in the Assembly

BHUBANESWAR: High growth rate and good finance management has helped Orissa finance minister, Prafulla Chandra Ghadei to present a higher budgetary allocation pegged at Rs 44878.97 crore.

Presenting a balanced budget on Friday evening at the state assembly, Mr Ghadei said that the Budget for the 2011 fiscal laid emphasis on fiscal consolidation, larger devolution of resources to local bodies and capital investment for building physical and social infrastructure.

The highlight of the budget is that 60% of the state’s plan outlay has been allocated for Capital Expenditure including capital outlay, grants for creation of capital assets and other revenue expenditure for capital formation.

The total plan size is about Rs 15,000 crore for the next fiscal, which includes an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore for the state sector and Rs 2000 crore for the public sector undertakings.

“The total expenditure proposed in the budget estimates (BE) including debt repayment is Rs 44878.97 crore. The non-pan expenditure is estimated at Rs 29594.25 crore with an increase of 13.01% over the revised estimates of 2010-11. The state plan, central plan and centrally sponsored plan expenditure have been estimated at Rs 13,000 crore, Rs 731.10 core and Rs 1553.62 crore respectively totaling to Rs 15284.72 crore, which represents an increase of 13.92% over the revised outlay for 2010-11”, Mr Ghadei said.

The revenue receipts for 2011-12 has been pegged at Rs 36383.36 crore of which state’s own tax and no-tax revenue will be Rs 16104.9 crore, up by 15% over the revised estimate of 2010-11. The total revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs 36323.23 crore during 2011-12 leaving surplus of Rs 60.13 crore.

Keeping the food inflation which has reached all time high of 17-18% in the recent past, Mr Ghadei has proposed to exempt entry tax of 1% on onion, garlic, ginger, potato, egg, fruits, fish, etc for the new financial year. However, the finance minister has proposed to raise rate of tax for consumer durable articles from 12.5% to 13.5%.

Mr Ghadei, however, admits the challenges ahead. “We have miles to go in order to catch up with other developed states of the country.....we are confronted with a greater challenge of achieving inclusive growth by ensuring inclusion of all sections of the society in the development process”.