Fiscal Deficit Of Six States Seen Higher

Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal have budgeted a higher gross fiscal deficit for 2002-03.

This is in stark contrast to the budgeted decline of 3.5 per cent over the preceding fiscal of all states put together.

Inter-state variations are also reflected in the revenue account. In their budgets for 2002-03, while the revenue deficit of all the states taken together is estimated at 47 per cent of the gross fiscal deficit, the state-wise position indicates that the revenue deficit would account for more than 60 per cent of the gross fiscal deficit in the case of seven states.

These include Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Bihar, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.

States which have budgeted substantial growth in aggregate receipts are Jharkhand (20.4 per cent), Kerala (19.9 per cent), Tamil Nadu (18.2 per cent), Karnataka (17.1 per cent), Chhattisgarh (14.5 per cent) and Orissa (12.6 per cent).

In contrast, the average growth rate of all the states put together in terms of aggregate receipts is budgeted at 7.9 per cent.

The revenue receipts of all states is estimated to increase 13.3 per cent during the year. The states having proposed significant growth in their revenue receipts over the revised estimates include Punjab (34.5 per cent), Jharkand (21.4 per cent), Kerala (20.1 per cent), Orissa (18.4 per cent) and Bihar (17.6 per cent).

Over the years, the growth rate in total expenditure has remained higher than the growth rate of revenue receipts of states.