Karnataka revenue receipts rise 20%

Karnataka's revenue receipts at the end of December 2010 went up 20 per cent to Rs 38,688 crore compared with the same period last year, the Governor, Mr H.R. Bhardwaj, said during his address to the joint session of the State legislature on Thursday.

He informed that the financial status of Karnataka remained healthy in the period between April and December 2010 on the back of higher revenue receipts and commercial tax collection.

Plan expenditure

“Commercial tax collection was up by 30 per cent, which is the highest among the neighbouring states,” he said. The Plan expenditure has also increased by 16 per cent to Rs 14,505 crore, while the Government has restricted non-Plan expenditure to only 10 per cent.

“With the current trend of resource mobilisation and non-Plan expenditure, the Government expects to achieve the current year's annual Plan of Rs 31,050 crore,” the Governor said.

The Government's focus on new initiatives resulted in increasing share of the Plan expenditure from 29 per cent of the total expenditure during 1999-2004 to 40 per cent during 2008-11.

The per capita Plan expenditure is expected to go up to Rs 5,175 by the fiscal-end, which is one of the highest in the country.

The Government proposes to organise the first-of-its-kind Global Agriculture Investment Meet in June this year in Bangalore, said Mr Bhardwaj.

Agriculture investment meet

An agri-business policy will be brought out soon to facilitate better backward and forward linkages for farmers.

The Government also plans to make larger investments in the water sector to utilise the water resources potential, which has been enhanced by the recent Krishna Tribunal Award.

“This decade (2011-2020) will be declared as ‘Neeravari Dashaka' with focus on water resources management in Karnataka,” he announced.

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