Odisha plan expenditure surges 77% in Apr-Dec

Revenue growth tepid at 4%

The State Plan expenditure logged 77 per cent jump in the April-December period of 2015-16, reaching Rs 19,382 crore compared to Rs 10,935 crore in the year-ago period.

Agriculture & allied sectors registered 68 per cent growth in Plan spending. Expenditure under this head rose from Rs 2400 crore to Rs 4,036 crore in the period under review. Infrastructure spending till December stood at Rs 4,007 crore, recording an increase of 79 per cent. Similarly, social sector logged 99 per cent spurt in Plan expenditure at Rs 9,890 crore. The progress in expenditure and revenue collection was reviewed by chief secretary G C Pati.

The chief secretary pointed out that departments that have failed to clock desired spending mandated by the Cash Management System, their allocated funds will go back to the finance department.

The Cash Management System (CMS) introduced in 2010-11 mandates that departments need to record at least 60 per cent spending till the end of December in any fiscal. The Integrated Odisha Treasury Management System has been so enabled that it will not admit expenditure in excess of 40 per cent of Budget provision during the last quarter and 15 per cent in the month of March under any demand for grant under CMS.

Though expenditure under State Plan has been noteworthy, revenue growth continued to be measly in April-December period.

The state's own tax and non-tax revenue grew only four per cent in the period from Rs 16,167 crore to Rs 16,792 crore. Governments own tax revenue rose from Rs 10,779 crore to Rs 12,229 crore, meaning a growth of 13 per cent.