Delhi’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is estimated to have contracted by 5.68 per cent in real terms in 2020-21, the Economic Survey for 2020-21 showed.

This compared with expected contraction of 8 per cent in GDP at the national level, highlighted the Survey, which was tabled by Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Assembly on Monday.

According to the Survey, Delhi has maintained its revenue surplus, which was ₹7,499 crore during 2019-20 as compared to ₹6,261 crore during 2018-19. However, the fiscal deficit has widened to ₹ 3227.79 crore during 2019-20 (provisional) compared with ₹1,489.38 crore in 2018-19, which is 0.39 per cent of the GSDP (0.20 per cent).

Meanwhile, the advance estimate of GSDP at current prices during 2020-21 stood at ₹ 7,98,310 crore, a contraction of 3.92 per cent over the previous year.

The GSDP at current prices has increased by about 45 per cent in the last six years ie from ₹5,50,804 crore in 2015-16 to ₹7,98,310 crore during 2020- 21. Also the per capita income of Delhi at current prices during 2020-21 is estimated at ₹3,54,004 against the per capita income of ₹1,27,768 at the national level. Thus, Delhi’s per capita income is almost three times the national average, the Survey highlighted.

Sisodia on Monday also presented the “Performance Report of Outcome Budget 2020-21”, which is the report card as to how various departments have performed with the allocated fund under Annual Budget 2020-21.

Outcome Budget

The report card gives an account whether the money has been spent for the purpose it was allocated including the outcome of the funds used and what is the overall score of a department in terms of percentage on-track indicators as on December 31, 2020, for a critical set of output and outcome indicators.

The Outcome Budget breaks down the performance of each major scheme and programme of the Delhi government into two kinds of indicators: (i) Output indicators, which tell what are the services or infrastructure that government departments are required to provide, For example, how many Mohalla Clinics are planned to be built, and (ii) Outcome indicators, which tell us exactly how people have benefitted from that scheme. For example, how many people visited the Mohalla Clinics.

Sisodia said that the Outcome Budget is a unique document, which has significantly enhanced transparency and accountability in the use of public money. The budget allocations are now divided into measurable output and outcome indicators, which are easy to monitor, he noted.

All the output and outcome Indicators are expressed in quantifiable and measurable numbers, along with timelines for capital projects.

Sisodia noted that the progress in achievement of the targets set out in the Outcome Budget was affected by the Covid-19-induced lockdown.

“The year 2020-21 started in the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic and a strict lockdown that brought all socio-economic activities to a halt. While our government put up a brave fight against Covid-19 pandemic, it has caused great distortion in government’s routine activities,” Sisodia said.

Published on March 8, 2021