The State government is in final stages of preparation of the Budget for the next financial year 2022-23, which is likely to be presented to the State Legislature by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao on Monday.
The Finance Department has received proposals from all the government departments, including those functioning under the heads of departments.
Senior officials are engaged in working out allocations that should be made to each department on priority basis. “All the departments have given their budget proposals and we are in the process of fine-tuning the requirements,” a senior official told The Hindu.
Officials are however tight-lipped when asked about the size of the outlay and whether it would be higher than the previous financial year’s budget. “It’s a breach of privilege,” was how a senior official responded.
The size of the budget this time around assumes significance as the government’s estimates of revenue receipts for the current fiscal remained below expectations at least in two segments.
The government estimated that receipts through non-tax revenue - ₹30,557 crore - and grants in aid and contributions -₹38,669 crore - for the current year, but the actuals till the end of the third quarter remained at ₹5,181.46 crore and ₹6,373.26 crore respectively. Moreover, the government has to make provision of ₹20,000 crore in the next budget towards Dalit Bandhu, one of its kind scheme for financial empowerment of dalit families with a grant of ₹10 lakh each, as assured by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
The State is already incurring huge expenditure thanks to the spree of welfare programmes and this could be seen from the fact that the estimated expenditure on social sector is in excess of ₹80,000 crore. This is in addition to expenditure on account of salaries/wages and pensions - around ₹36,000 crore, subsidies - ₹ 12,630 crore - and interest payment that is to the tune of - ₹17,580 crore - during the current year.
Given this background, all eyes are on how practicable the current year’s budget would be in terms of actual revenue receipts and how the government will try to strike a balance between the increasing expenditure and augmenting its revenue resources. The government is reportedly in the process of announcing a new comprehensive mining policy that would enable it garner more funds through non-tax sources while sale of government lands in some prime areas is said to be another area under consideration.
