JK govt initiates process for preparing budget 2019-20

The Jammu and Kashmir government Monday initiated the process of preparing budget for 2019-20 and said the endeavour of the state administration is to facilitate industrial activity, businesses and trade and also boost local production to prevent draining out of resources.

The government also called for putting in place a comprehensive mechanism to prevent misuse of tax exemptions and incentives to the disadvantage of the state.

The finance department Monday formally set into motion the process for preparation of the state budget 2019-20 by holding the first intra-departmental consultation regarding resource mobilisation, an official spokesman said.

Principal Secretary Finance Navin K Choudhary chaired a high-level meeting with the senior officers of the finance department at Civil Secretariat here Monday afternoon in this regard.

This was the first meeting of a series of intra and inter-departmental pre-budget consultations to be convened by the principal secretary finance to finalise the budget proposals for the next fiscal.

The entire exercise of department-wise pre-budget consultations is likely to be completed by the end of next month.

Choudhary took a holistic review of the revenue realisation targets achieved for the current financial year and the estimates for the next fiscal. He called for putting in place a comprehensive mechanism to prevent misuse of tax exemptions and incentives to the disadvantage of the state.

He said "the endeavor of the governor's administration is to facilitate industrial activity, businesses and trade and boost local production to prevent draining out of resources".

Choudhary said the finance department has already advanced the budget presentation to January to streamline the public expenditure, ensuring effective management of resources and timely completion of the developmental projects.

Principal secretary finance said the department has also put various expenditure reforms in place including adoption of Budget Estimation Allocation Management System (BEAMS) to minimise human interface in the allocation of resources.

He said BEAMS has also helped in bringing better cash management, financial reporting and monitoring system and eliminated mis-classification by minimising human errors.