Karnataka CM presents deficit budget for fiscal 2019-20

Bengaluru, Feb 8 (IANS) Burdened by Rs 12,650-crore farm loan waiver and other exigencies, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday presented a deficit budget for fiscal 2019-20.

"As the total expenditure for the ensuing fiscal is estimated to be Rs 2,34,153 crore and total receipts Rs 2,30,738 crore, the budget deficit is expected to be Rs 3,415 crore," said Kumaraswamy presenting the second budget of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Congress coalition government in the southern state.

Though the budget has projected Rs 258-crore revenue surplus for 2019-20 as against revised estimate of Rs 194-crore for fiscal 2018-19 and reduced the burden on the capital account to Rs 174 crore from the budget estimate of Rs 579 crore for 2018-19, the budget estimates Rs 687-crore deficit for 2019-20.

"The revenue surplus is estimated to be Rs 258 crore, fiscal deficit is expected to be Rs 42,051 crore, which is 2.65 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP and within the mandate 3 per cent of the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act," Kumaraswamy told the legislators amid protests and a walkout by the opposition BJP members.

As per revised estimates for 2018-19, budget deficit is Rs 5,223 crore due to 16.6 per cent annual increase in total expenditure to Rs 2,17,451 crore while total receipts lagged at Rs 2,12,228 crore from budget estimates of Rs 2,13,734 crore.

The estimated tax revenue of Rs 1,18,993 crore, including Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation from the Central government, will be 11.9 per cent over the revised estimate of fiscal 2018-19.

"We expect to collect Rs 8,055 crore from non-tax revenues, Rs 39,806 crore as a share of central taxes and Rs 15,008 crore as central grants. State-run boards and corporations and local bodies are expected to mobilise Rs 21,459 crore through internal resource generation and borrowings," said Kumaraswsamy.

The Chief Minister, who also holds the finance portfolio, has proposed steep increase in additional duty on beer, drought beer, beer from micro-brewery and low alcoholic beverage for mobilizing Rs 20,950 crore from excise duty in the new fiscal as against Rs 19,750 crore set for fiscal 2018-19.

As part of the commitment to the agriculture sector, Kumaraswamy has provided Rs 12,650 crore for waiving crop loans of about 40-lakh farmers across the state in the new fiscal.

"The budgetary provision includes Rs 6,500 crore for loans raised from state-run or commercial banks and Rs 6,150 crore from state cooperative banks. The cooperative loan waiver process will be completed by June, 2019 and that of commercial banks by the end of the coming fiscal," said the Chief Minister.

In the current fiscal (2018-19), though the budget allocated Rs 6,500-crore for waiving farm loans from commercial banks, Kumaraswamy said only Rs 2,850 crore was released to benefit 6 lakh farmers.

"The budget provision of Rs 2,600 crore for crop loans borrowed from cooperative banks has been released, benefiting 5.97-lakh farmers across the state," added Kumaraswamy.