With coal royalty, Jharkhand now a revenue surplus state

28 November 2016

Jharkhand became a revenue surplus state after two years in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2016. Development commissioner-cum-additional chief secretary (planning and finance) Amit Khare on Thursday said the revenue receipts of the state for the financial year was Rs 40, 638.36 crore, an increase of 28.75% over the previous financial year.

Jharkhand has been revenue surplus in previous occasions alsom but in 2006-07 CAG pointed out that the state had surplus revenue worth Rs 946 crore because of poor spending. “It’s after gap of two years the state has surplus revenue mainly because of coal royalty it got from the Centre on revised rates and proper management of the borrowings,” Khare said, adding that the state has also recorded better performance on the expenditure side.

The government tabled the financial accounts and appropriation accounts for FY2015-16 in the assembly on Wednesday. Though the tabling of bills was disrupted by the opposition, it was passed through voice vote amid pandemonium.

Khare said Jharkhand has been revenue surplus as per the finance accounts prepared by the state accountant general. “While the state recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 230.34 crore in the 2014-15, it not only overcame the shortfall but also registered a surplus revenue of Rs 4,085.53 crore — 1.80% of the GSDP — in 2015-16,” Khare said.

On a comparative scale, the state recorded an increase of Rs 9,073.8 crore in revenue receipts, corresponding to 28.75% increase over previous year. “In terms of net expenditure of Rs 40, 041.5 crore in 2014-15, the state also managed to spend Rs 54,437.27 crore in 2015-16, of which the plan component was Rs 31,287.07 crore,” Khare said, adding that the capital expenditure in 2015-16 was Rs 15,494 crore in comparison to Rs 6,309.46 crore in 2014-15.

The fiscal deficit for 2014-15, which was 3.32% of GSDP, reduced to 2.64% in 2015-16. Khare said the fiscal deficit does not include the loan sanctioned to state under the UDAY scheme. “Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY) for transformation of power infrastructure in state is a loan extended by the Centre under the condition that it won’t be calculated in the fiscal deficit of state finances,” Khare said.

Source – TOI