Odisha Budget outgo up 16% to Rs 1.39 trn, stake eyes 8-8.5% growth in FY20

Budget seeks to strike balance between fiscal prudence and funding a bevy of welfare schemes, by curbing fiscal deficit for FY20 at 3.49% within the 3.5% cap mandated under FRBM Act

Odisha presented a revenue surplus Budget, pegging the outgo at Rs 1.39 trillion for 2019-20, higher by 16 per cent over FY19. The Budget seeks to strike a balance between fiscal prudence and funding a bevy of social security & welfare schemes, by restraining the fiscal deficit for FY20 at 3.49 per cent within the limit of 3.5 per cent mandated under Fiscal Responsibility & Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

The Budget forecasts a growth rate of 8-8.5 per cent for the state Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), continuing the high growth trajectory over the last five years. 

The outlay is proposed to be financed mainly through revenue receipts of Rs 1.15 trillion and borrowing & other receipts of Rs 23,734 crore. The state's own tax/GSDP ratio is pegged at 6.1 per cent in 2019-20. The outstanding debt to GSDP ratio is estimated at 19.7 per cent at the end of FY20 which is below the FRBM limit of 25 per cent. The budget outlay is split into total programme expenditure (Rs 74,600 crore) and administrative expenditure estimated at Rs 57,310 crore.

“This budget focuses on borrowing agriculture production & productivity, expanding irrigation, improving health care, education and skills for our people, investing in the youth and providing safe drinking water, sanitation, better livelihood opportunities, social security, electricity and rural connectivity. With substantial increase in investment in physical infrastructure we intend to increase economic activities and attract manufacturing and service industries and service industries”, said Odisha's finance minister Niranjan Pujari.

Carrying ahead its tradition since 2013-14, the Odisha government presented an exclusive budget for agriculture with an outlay of Rs 20,714 crore for FY20. Besides the budgeted outlay, about Rs 8000 crore is being invested through extra  budgetary resources every year to ensure timely payments to farmers for paddy procurement.

The agriculture budget has earmarked Rs 5611 crore for the state government's much lauded Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation or KALIA scheme for 2019-20. In this financial year, the state has fixed a target to create additional irrigation potential of 265,000 hectares. To boost farm credit, the budget has set aside Rs 800 crore for interest subvention on crop loans for this fiscal.

Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), another flagship programme of the Odisha government launched as an antidote to the Central government's Ayushman Bharat has received an allocation of Rs 1203 crore. 

The Budget talks of creation of disaster resilient power infrastructure after being pounded by Fani, a very severe cyclonic storm last month. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been provisioned for Odisha Skill Development Project with assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Moreover, Rs 237 crore has been set aside for industries and attracting investment.

The Budget bereft of any new tax or scheme has significant allocations for flagship schemes and other programmes- Madhubabu Pension Yojana (Rs 2,120 crore), MAMATA scheme Rs  (305 crore), Samagra Sikhsya (Rs 2,250 crore), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Rs 2900 crore), Smart City Mission (Rs 400 crore), Biju Krushak Yojana (Rs 420 crore), Mukhya Mantri Swasthya Seva Mission (Rs 578 crore) and Ama Gaon Ama Bikash Yojana (Rs 400 crore) to name a few.