Shillong, Mar 9: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday tabled a deficit budget estimate of Rs. 1,849 crore, with the state’s total expenditures projected at Rs. 18,881 crore. He also stated that the budget is – a Gender budget, a Youth budget and a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) budget, which is a first for the state; and a fundamental change has been made to this year’s budget system.

“For 2022-23, I am projecting an overall expenditure of Rs. 18,881 crore. Out of this, Rs. 14,448 crore will come from State resources and the rest will be leveraged from central resources. The revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs. 15,376 crore and the capital expenditure is estimated at Rs. 3,505 crore. I am very pleased to announce that the projected capital expenditure is the highest in the history of the State and will propel the infrastructure growth in line with the thrust given by the Government of India,” he told the Assembly on Wednesday while presenting the Budget for 2022-23.

“I am, therefore, presenting the budget of 2022-23 with a fiscal deficit of Rs. 1,849 crore, which is around 4.5 percent of the GSDP,” he added.

Meghalaya’s GSDP for the current financial year is pegged at 37,494 crore and the GSDP estimate for 2022-23 stands at 41,010 crore.

The CM further stated, “I have made some fundamental changes in the budgeting system. The plan and non-plan dichotomy in the formulation of the budget estimates has been done away with. This is in line with the Government of India’s budgetary practices and enables efficient budgeting. Further, for the first time in the history of the State, I am presenting a Gender budget, a Youth budget and a Sustainable Development Goals budget.”

“On the expenditure side, I have estimated the total expenditure at Rs. 18,881 crore, of which the revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs. 15,376 crore and capital expenditure at Rs. 3,505 crore. Excluding repayment of loans of Rs. 964 crore, the estimated total expenditure is Rs. 17,917 crore. Interest payments for 2022-23 is estimated at Rs. 1,110 crore and pension payments at Rs. 1,469 crore,” Sangma informed.

For 2022-23, the government has estimated the total receipts at Rs. 18,700 crore, of which the revenue receipts are estimated at Rs. 16,035 crore and capital to receipts at Rs. 2,665 crore. Excluding borrowings of Rs. 2,632 crore, the total receipts are estimated to be Rs. 16,068 crore.

For the current financial year (2021-22), the State government has received Rs. 5,851 crore as share of central taxes against the original estimates of Rs. 5,105 crore. Under the Special Capital Assistance Program, the Union Finance Ministry has also sanctioned Rs. 300 crore for taking up various capital projects.

Giving details of State’s share of revenue from the Centre, Sangma said for 2022-23, the total transfers from the Government of India excluding the scheme related transfers are estimated at Rs. 7,641 crore. The State’s share of central taxes is estimated at Rs. 6,264 crore, the State will also be receiving Rs. 1,033 crore as revenue deficit grant, Rs. 76 crore as grants management, Rs. 140 crore for the Autonomous District Councils, Rs. 69 crore for Urban Local Bodies and Rs. 59 crore as grants for the health sector.

The CM also informed that the Government of India has increased the size of ‘Special Capital Assistance’ pool from Rs. 15,000 crore to Rs. 1 lakh crore, out of this, Rs. 614 crore has been allocated to Meghalaya for taking up various capital works in 2022-23.

“The own-tax revenue of the State for the current financial year, including GST compensation, is expected to touch Rs. 2,213 crore. This includes an anticipated excise revenue of Rs. 300 crore. Over the last four years, this government has been making concerted efforts to increase the State’s revenue base and these efforts are yielding results. For the year 2022-23, I am estimating the overall tax revenues to be Rs. 2,625 crore, out of which excise revenue is estimated at Rs. 350 crore,” he said.

He further stated that the non-tax revenue collection during the current financial year is expected to touch Rs. 541 crore and for 2022-23, the government is taking steps to auction a large proportion of the Rs. 32 lakh metric tons of the extracted coal. “I also expect to generate significant additional revenue through the initiation of scientific mining in the State. The Ministry of Coal has already given approvals for prospecting operations for 17 applicants. Given this, I am estimating the non-tax revenue from the mining sector to be Rs. 500 crore and the overall non-tax revenue to be Rs. 731 crore,” he informed.

With the overall central transfers and State’s own resources estimated to touch Rs. 10,189 crore in the current financial year, Sangma said he expects the State’s overall expenditure for the current financial year to touch an all-time high of Rs. 15,600 crore, which is a 13 percent increase over the expenditure of the previous financial year and a 58 percent increase over the expenditure in 2017-18 when the MDA government came to power.