Govt to incur Rs 4,000 cr loss in oil duty cut

The improvement in the fiscal situation has been mainly on account of the revenue buoyancy witnessed during the course of the financial year. Secondly, the reduction of expenditure too, appears to be yielding results.

Tax revenue at the end of August 2000 totalled Rs 39,226 crore, up from Rs 32,302 crore during the corresponding period last year. The increase in collection works out to be more than 20 per cent. The government, however, has a long way to go to achieve the tax revenue (net) target of Rs 1,46,209 as set out in the 2000-2001 budget.

The flow of non-tax revenue has also increased from Rs 18,309 crore during April-August 1999 to Rs 25,297 crore at the fifth month in the current fiscal. The government is expecting to earn a total of Rs 57,464 crore as non-tax revenue during the current financial year.

The real problem, on the receipts side, will be the inflow from disinvestment of shares of public sector undertakings. Although half the financial year is over, disinvestment is only on the drawing-board. Among the big ticket disinvestments, are Air India, Indian Airlines and Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPC) have been on the block for long, it is not certain whether the task will be completed before March 31, 2001.

On the expenditure side, the CGA figures for the April-August 2000 reveal that the non-plan expenditure has gone down marginally. The total non-plan expenditure during April-August 2000 was Rs 74,172 crore down from Rs 74,690 crore recorded at the end of August 1999.

The non-plan expenditure (excluding interest payments) has gone up to Rs 39,158 crore during April-August 2000 from Rs 37,364 crore in the corresponding period last year. The increase works out to be less than 5 per cent. The total non-plan expenditure on the revenue account during the period was Rs 69,255 crore, up from Rs 67,926 crore in the corresponding period last year.

On the Plan side, expenditure during the five-month period went up to Rs 30,324 crore from Rs 27,064 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Improvement in the fiscal performance is also reflected in case of revenue deficit which at the end of August was Rs 21,952 crore as compared to Rs 33,312 crore at the end of fifth month last fiscal. The primary deficit too was down to Rs 6,350 crore as against Rs 17,564 crore during April-August 1999.