Expect a populist budget by O Panneerselvam today

The full budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 to be presented by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam would be his maiden budget since his re-designation as Deputy CM, and his eighth while holding the Finance portfolio.

Sources pointed out that Panneerselvam had earlier disclosed that the budget would have more takeaways in terms of welfare measures, and assured it would not impact the people. 

“It would be a pro-people budget,” the source quoted Panneerselvam as saying. As officials were tightlipped about the specifics of the budget, whether promises would be factored into the budget remains to be seen. 

The state government has collected as much as Rs 23,317 crore (excluding tax from petroleum products and alcohol) up to January 31 since the implementation of GST on July 1 last year. 

It is 22.61 per cent more compared to the corresponding period in the previous year’s collection of erstwhile VAT-based taxation system which stood at Rs 19,017.87 crore. 

Until September 2017, the official figures of Total Revenue Receipts (TRR) is pegged at Rs 67,204 crore while Total Expenditure stood at Rs 76,924 crore, with Revenue Deficit of Rs 9,720 crore and Fiscal Deficit of Rs 17,009 crore. 

The state’s Budget Estimate 2017-2018 document projects TRR and Total Expenditure at Rs 1,59,363 crore and Rs 2,01,339 crore, respectively, with a Revenue Deficit of Rs 15,930 crore and Fiscal Deficit of Rs 41,977 crore. The fall in liquor sales was cited as the reason for the shortfall, and the report also revealed that steps such as revision of excise duty and base rates of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) contributed to it.

While presenting the Supplementary estimates, the deputy CM had stated that Revenue deficit for 2017-2018 would increase over and above the budgeted Rs 15,930 crore mark pointing to the Review of trends in Receipts and Expenditure in relation to the Budget Estimates 2017– 2018. 

The report attributed the increase to the implementation of 7th Pay Commission revision which would incur an additional cost of Rs 6,480 crore.