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The Delhi State government has maintained a revenue surplus over the last five years from 2013-2014 to 2017-2018 according to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The surplus revenue is despite a fall in Grants-in-Aid to the State from the Centre.
An official statement said that Delhi’s revenue receipts during the year under review (2017-2018) increased by 12.58 per cent over the previous year. In the fiscal year ending March 2018, tax revenue registered an increase of 14.70 per cent and non-tax revenue a jump of 101.05 per cent.
The Grants-in-Aid from Government of India to Delhi state decreased from ₹2,825 crore (in 2016-2017) to ₹2,184 crore (during 2017-2018).
“This included grants from Government of India in lieu of share in central taxes which has remained stagnant at ₹325 crore since 2001-2002 although the central tax collections have grown substantially since,” an official statement said.
Govt’s investments
As on March 31, 2018, the government had invested ₹19,173 crore in statutory corporations, Rural Banks, joint stock companies and co-operatives. Return on this investment was 0.08 per cent while the government paid interest at an average rate of 8.58 per cent on its borrowings during 2017-2018.
Highlighting lacunae in financial reporting, the CAG report said, “During 2017-2018, there were substantial delays in submission of utilisation certificates by various grantee institutions and as a result proper utilisation of grants could not be ensured. Utilisation certificates involving ₹4,455.75 crore were outstanding for periods ranging from two to 10 years while ₹2,497.89 crore were outstanding for more than 10 years.”
“Eighteen annual accounts of five bodies/authorities due up to 2016-2017 had not been received as of March 2018.... During 2017-2018, significant amounts of expenditure and receipts were booked under the Minor Heads ‘800-Other Expenditure’ and ‘800-Other Receipts’ under various Major Heads affecting transparency in financial reporting,” the CAG observed.
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