@AjitPawarSpeaks
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar said that Maharashtra’s gross state domestic product (GSDP) has grown by 10 percent in the current fiscal and the government is committed to ensure that revenue deficit doesn’t cross the prescribed limit.
Replying to a debate in the legislative assembly today on the interim budget for FY 2024-25 presented in the Lower House earlier this week, Pawar said the fiscal deficit — gap between government’s income and expenditure — has been restricted at 2.32 percent of state GDP. He said that the GST (Goods and Services Tax) revenue of the state has increased by 19.09 percent, which is the highest for a state in the country. The share of the state is 15.82 percent in the country.
Mr. Pawar said the state’s current debt is 18.02 percent of the GSDP, though it can borrow up to 25 percent.
The deputy CM maintained that the interim budget, in which total expenditure for the next fiscal year was pegged at Rs 6,00,522 crore with a revenue deficit of Rs 9,734 crore, focuses on agriculture, education, public works, health and medical education, social justice, among other segments. He stated that apart from this, thrust has been given on infrastructure development to facilitate industrial growth.
Mr. Pawar noted the government was pro-farmer and highlighted measures taken for cultivators, including providing benefit of crop insurance to them, contributing Rs 6,000 (per eligible farmer, per year) in the centrally sponsored Namo Shetkari Sanman scheme as well as providing essential foodgrains at subsidised rates.
He said Mahananda Dairy, a state government entity, will be handed over to any institution which gives the best proposal for managing it, and rejected speculations that the undertaking has been handed over to a Gujarat-based organisation.
Opposition members staged a walkout protesting against Pawar’s reply and stating that common people had not got any relief in the interim budget.
