The two consecutive budgets of Punjab Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa painted a gloomy picture of the year gone by while holding the promise of a bright one ahead. In his June budget last year,Dhindsa had outlined signs of worry for the present year while projecting Rs 3,123 crore revenue deficit for 2012-13. The actual revenue deficit for 2011-12 has shot up to Rs 6,838 crore against Rs 3,379 crore in the budget estimates. The slippage in the target is mainly on account of no additional resource mobilisation measures and increase in liability on account of salary and pensions, he had said. The minister had said the committed expenditure on account of salaries,pensions,interest payments and power subsidy is likely to be Rs 30,560 crore in 2012-13 - amounting to 80.44 per cent of the revenue receipts of the year. His concerns last year on debt too were grave. The level of debt is also not sustainable. The gross borrowings for 2012-13 will be Rs 13,204 crore,which will mainly go into repaying the principal amount and interest,leaving only Rs 2,936 crore in the hands of the state. More than 80 per cent of the net borrowings are going into meeting revenue deficit,leaving only 20 per cent for capital expenditure. The interest payments as percentage of revenue receipts have increased to 23.5 per cent in 2011-12 - this is one of the highest for any state in the country, Dhindsa said. But he had concluded his last years speech claiming the budget will put Punjab back on the fiscal roadmap set by the 13th Finance Commission in 2012-13 in terms of all three indicators - revenue,fiscal deficit and debt to GSDP ratio. If we fail to meet the targets,we will lose Rs 500 crore every year, he had said. While presenting the 2013-14 budget,Dhindsa once again followed the present tense,future perfect mantra. He said the state had overshot the revenue deficit target. It was Rs 4,758 crore as per revised estimates of 2012-13 against target of Rs 3,123 crore owing to impact of pay commission liabilities. But future was again perfect. Projecting revenue deficit of 2013-14 at Rs 1,747 crore,he said it will be 0.57 per cent of the GSDP against target of 0.6 per cent given by the 13th finance commission,which is the lowest-ever target given to the state. At Rs 9,258 crore,his fiscal deficit too conformed to the target of three per cent of GSDP. His dose for making it all happen was also time-tested better tax compliance,austerity measures and the blessings of the land of seers. What else finmin is betting on Online lotteries to spin Rs 362 cr Among the optimistic revenue projections of FM Dhindsa was Rs 362 crore on account of lotteries,which the state expects to go online in the coming fiscal. Since one,two and three digit lotteries have been banned,the state made Rs 60 crore from manual four-digit lotteries this year. However,the cumbersome process of first sending them for printing to Lucknow,then again for ticker verification resulted in the state just being able to have one draw a month. Once lotteries go online,the state will be able to exhaust the legal limit of 24 draws a day,something that will spin money with each draw. Also online lotteries can be assessed from any part of the world unlike manual which were restricted to Punjab. Earlier,a presentation was made before the online committee headed by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal in January and tenders for the same are in the process of being invited. Regularisation of illegal colonies Against Rs 200 crore last year,Punjab has pegged the revenue receipts from urban development to Rs 600 crore for the coming fiscal,mainly through CLU charges on marriage palaces and regularisation of illegal colonies. Other major jumps are under heads of mining,which has pegged at Rs 200 crore for 2013-14. With environmental clearances leading to ban on mining activity in the state,the state mopped up just Rs 99 crore last year.
