The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Plan outlay up by 25 per cent

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Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Plan outlay up by 25 per cent

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, FEB. 1. In its first full-fledged budget to be presented in the Assembly later this month, the Congress Government has proposed a plan outlay of Rs. 17,428 crores for 2005-06, an increase of 25 per cent over the current financial year.

In the annual fiscal framework released here on Tuesday, the Government has proposed the overall size of next year's budget at Rs.54,871 crores. This represents a 12.69 per cent increase over the current's year's revised estimate of Rs.48,690 crores. The non-plan expenditure has been estimated at Rs.37,443 crores as against the revised estimate of Rs.34,747 for this year.

Tax net to be widened

Talking to reporters, the Finance Minister, K. Rosaiah, said he did not plan to impose any fresh taxes as Andhra Pradesh was already a highly taxed State. He would, however, broaden the tax net, improve compliance and ensure collection of tax arrears.

The budget expenditure has been classified into three broad groups of economic services, social services and general services. The allocation for economic services is proposed to be increased to Rs.17,206 crores. As percentage to the total budget, this sector gets 31.36 per cent.

Under the economic services, the highest allocation is proposed for the irrigation sector-- Rs.8,486 crores. This is followed by power (Rs.2,187 crores), rural development (Rs. 2164 crores), agriculture (Rs.1,544 crores), transport (Rs.1,304 crores) and industries and minerals (Rs.363 crores).

The allocation to the social services is proposed to be increased to Rs.12,927 crores. In the social services, the highest allocation is proposed for general education (Rs.5,560 crores). The proposals for Medical and Health sector are Rs.1,753 crores, urban development (Rs.1,355 crores), Welfare of weaker sections and minorities Rs.1,868 crores. The allocation to general services is proposed to be pegged at Rs.24,738 crores.

Revenue deficit

The revenue deficit is expected to decline from Rs.1,885 crores to Rs.1,647 crores. In terms of GSDP, revenue deficit is expected to decline sharply from 0.93 per cent for this year to 0.73 per cent in 2005-06. The fiscal deficit which stood at 3.41 per cent of GSDP this year to increase to 3.78 per cent. Official sources attributed the increase in fiscal deficit to borrowings for irrigation projects. The total debt which is estimated to be 32.75 per cent of GSDP this year when compared to last year (32.80) is expected to increase to 34.08 per cent for 2005-06.

The revenue receipts are projected to grow at 12 per cent 2005-06 over the budget estimates for 2004-05 and reach a level of Rs.36,053 crores of which State's own revenue is anticipated to grow at 13.9 per cent over the budget estimates for the current year. The State's own revenue is projected around Rs.24,217 crores, implying an increase Rs.2951 crores over this year. The tax revenue for 2005-06 is expected to grow by Rs.2,797 crores (16.2 per cent). The total revenue expenditure for 2005-06 is projected to reach Rs.37,700 crores as against the revised estimate of Rs.32,951 crores for the current year. The total capital expenditure is expected to go up to Rs.6,814 crores in 2005-06, a healthy increase of 10 per cent.

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