Sarabjit Kaur
The Maharashtra government has no scope to increase direct revenues, state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said in Mumbai on Tuesday, adding that the state budget, to be tabled on 9 March, will focus on boosting agriculture and creating jobs.
“After introduction of GST, we are not left with [much] options to increase sources of direct revenues. We cannot raise prices of fuel and alcohol because the market is already saturated. Any further increase will give rise to illegal sale of liquor,” Mungantiwar said.
In such a situation, the only option before the government is to increase non-tax revenue, optimal usage of available funds and desisting from unnecessary expenditure, the minister said.
The BJP-led state government’s ambitious farm loan waiver scheme will entail an additional burden of over Rs 25,000 crore, while implementation of the 7th Pay Commission will cost the state exchequer of Rs 22,630 crore, he said.
“Large-scale infrastructure projects can [only] be undertaken with the help of loans, to be repaid in 20 to 25 years,” he said.
The state budget will be a “realistic” one, Mungantiwar said, adding that “The focus, along with agriculture, will be on giving impetus to small and medium scale industries, which will in turn generate employment opportunities.”
According to the RBI guidelines, the government can borrow loans up to 22.7 per cent of the GDP, he said, adding that the ratio now is 16.3 per cent.
“We are well within the prescribed limit but we do not want to borrow unless absolutely needed,” the minister added.
