Tax-free deficit budget presented in Tripura

Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Devvarma on Friday presented a tax-free deficit budget of Rs 19,891.60 crore on the first day of ongoing state budget session.

The budget proposal has shown a deficit of Rs 511.41 crores, which the government expects to meet through proper fiscal management and tax planning.

Devvarma, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the collection of the state's own tax revenue is projected at Rs 2,439.00 crore in budget estimates of 2020-21 with a growth rate of 11.61 per cent over the revised estimates of 2019-20.

The collection of the state's own non-tax revenue is projected at Rs 302.00 crore as against Rs 11,256.83 crore in the revised estimates for 2019-20.

The total gross borrowings for the year 2020-21 are estimated at about Rs 2,567.00 crore.

The overall total receipts including adjustment of opening balance in budget estimate for the year to be about Rs 19,380.19 crore.

The total expenditure is projected at Rs 19,891.60 crore, which includes revenue expenditure of Rs 17,252.12 crore and capital expenditure of Rs 2,693.48 crore.

The previous budget had proposals of Rs 17,530.46 crores, though revised estimates showed supplementary grants of Rs 2,747.11 crores.

"The budget proposals are realistic and development- oriented. We have heavily increased allocations in different development heads. So, we have incurred some deficit," the finance minister later told reporters.

The minister said separate budgets were prepared for the first time for SC and ST communities this year.

The budget estimates show a rise of allocations for the SC-ST community from Rs 43,580.11 lakhs from previous financial year to Rs 51,049.55 lakhs this year.

He said the State Planning Board is henceforth renamed as Innovation and Transformation Aayog of Tripura.

The budget estimates have also proposed 19 new components such as the Chief Minister's Poshan Abhiyan, the Tripura Menstrual Hygiene Scheme, the Mukhyamantri Matrupushti Uphar etc.