Odisha not to go for open market borrowings in April-June

The Odisha government has informed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that it does not intend to go for open market borrowings in the April-June quarter of 2014-15.

“The state government do not intend to go in for market borrowings in the first quarter of 2014-15 (April-June),” S P Rath, deputy secretary (finance), Odisha wrote to Susobhan Sinha, general manager,RBI.

In its interim Budget for 2014-15, the state government has made a provision of Rs 6,434.21 crore towards open market borrowings. But the government has shied away from open market borrowings since 2005-06, banking on growth in its own tax and non-tax revenue segments.

The state’s own tax and non-tax revenue has been projected at Rs 27,512.65 crore for 2014-15, a growth of 11.93 per cent over the budget estimate of Rs 24,580 crore for 2013-14. The projected figure includes Rs 19,512 crore as state’s own tax revenue and Rs 8,000 crore non-tax revenue.

The Plan Size for FY15 has been pegged at Rs 35,000 crore including Rs 2,000 crore for four state public sector undertakings (PSUs) — Oidsha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd — OTPCL (Rs 714 crore), Odisha Power Generation Corporation- OPGC (Rs 1,100 crore), Odisha Hydro Power Corporation— OHPC (Rs 170 crore) and Odisha State Road Transport Corporation- OSRTC (Rs 16 crore). The state’s overall Budget size has been pegged at Rs 76,006.87 crore for 2014-15, 26.04 per cent higher than the outlay of Rs 60,303 crore for2013-14.

The government has anticipated a revenue surplus of Rs 1,120.13 crore by the close of 2014-15 projecting revenue receipt and revenue expenditure of Rs 62,916.76 crore and Rs 61,796.44 crore respectively. Fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 9,856.03 crore by the end of next fiscal, 2.98 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) estimated at Rs 3,30,390 crore.