Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today presented a revenue surplus budget for the State for the next fiscal and proposed substantial hike in cigarette and other tobacco products to mop up additional revenue.
Presenting his ninth consecutive budget since 2005—06 in the capacity as the Bihar finance minister, Sushil Modi said the state’s total expenditure for the next fiscal has been fixed at Rs 92,087.93 crore against the total receipts of Rs 91,899,16 crore.
The total expenditure of Rs 92,087.93 crore is proposed to consist mainly of the state plan at Rs 34,000 crore and non-plan estimates of Rs 53,081.63 crore. It would also contain expenditure of Rs 4,715.43 crore and Rs 290.87 crore under centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS) and central plan scheme (CPS) respectively, he said.
The total expenditure will easily cross a ‘respectable’ Rs one lakh crore mark, if one includes an estimated expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore transferred directly to various agencies by the centre for implementation of development and welfare programmes, Sushil Modi said.
As against the high expenditure target, the state government has proposed a receipt of Rs 91,899.16 crore comprising of total revenue receipt at Rs 80,066.47 crore with its own tax revenue at Rs 20,962.70 crore in the next fiscal. The state government has proposed to make borrowings of Rs 11,819.41 crore from various financial institutions to meet the expenditure requirement.
Elaborating on the highlights of the Bihar budget for 2013—14, Sushil Modi said the estimated revenue surplus of Rs 6,808.85 crore was the salient feature of next year’s budget as the fund will come in handsomely for undertaking new development projects.
The fiscal deficit of Rs 8,769.45 crore was another feature of the budget proposals as the state government has targeted to peg the deficit at 2.79 per cent of GSDP that was well under the target set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.
Under the FRBM Act, states have been asked to keep their fiscal deficit at up to three per cent of the GSDP, he said.