MUMBAI: After managing to win only 17 of 48 seats in the state in Lok Sabha polls, the Eknath Shinde govt pulled out all stops in its last budget before the assembly elections expected in Oct. The populist budget, tabled in the legislature on Friday, showered an array of sops on groups including women, youth, farmers, marginalised groups and the poor, including a Rs 1,500 subsidy for eligible women aged 21 to 60 each month patterned on Madhya Pradesh govt’s Ladli Behna Yojana which was key to its return to office.
Among the other key sops are three free gas cylinders to 52 lakh households annually and free power to farmers with agricultural pumps of up to 7.5 horse power capacity. The new schemes alone will cost the cash-strapped state Rs 96,000 crore. The budget already shows the strain with revenue deficit projected at Rs 20,051 crore and debt at Rs 7.8 lakh crore. This is Rs 71,713 crore higher than last year and 2.6 times higher than the debt figure a decade ago.
The debt figure is similar to that in the interim budget presented in Feb, though the new budget has a host of new schemes. The budget does not impose new taxes. On the contrary, it has reduced tax on petrol and diesel in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. So petrol will be cheaper by 65 paise and diesel by Rs 2 per litre. The state will have to forego tax revenue worth Rs 200 crore as a result.
Trying to allay concerns about massive pre-election spend, state finance minister Ajit Pawar said it was within fiscal limits. He said govt had resources to pay for the sops. “The state’s GST is expected to grow by 15.8% over last year. GST and VAT is set to rise by Rs 25,000 crore. We are also expecting a rise in funds received from Centre,” he said. He said the state could present supplementary demands for additional funds after the budget.
“We will still reach our goal of becoming a $ 1 trillion economy. This budget is for all sections of the society,” said chief minister Eknath Shinde. In an outreach to women, the state’s Mukhya Mantri Mazhi Ladki Bahin Yojana patterned on MP govt’s scheme, which will provide a subsidy of Rs 1,500 to eligible women, will roll out in July and will cost the state Rs 46,000 crore per year. Also, Mukhya Mantri Annapurna Yojana, which will provide three free gas cylinders, is set to cost Rs 1,400 crore annually.
