Dip in surplus revenue

Hyderabad: The state government had estimated in the Budget last year that it would have a revenue surplus of Rs 5,520.41 crore. It fell short of the mark by Rs 353.06 crore. The vote-on-account Budget presented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Friday showed the revised estimate of revenue surplus at Rs 5,167 crore.

According to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report at the end of December 2018, the state government has a revenue deficit of Rs 1840.46 crore.

The shortfall it appears was caused by the state government not being able to reach its target of own tax and non-tax revenue in the current financial year.

Though it could not reach the target of Rs 82,725 crore for 2018-19, the vote-on-account Budget sets an even more ambitious target of Rs 94,776 crore for 2019-20 for own revenues. Own revenues stood at Rs 72,777 crore in 2018-19.

The CAG had taken serious note of finances and pointed out that the state government had overestimated the revenue surplus.

While the targeted state tax revenue was Rs 73,751.88 crore, the revised Budget estimates show a shortfall of Rs 7,001.25 crore at Rs 66,749.75 crore.

The targeted non-tax revenue that the state had hoped to raise in 2017-18 was Rs 8,973.92 crore but it fell short by Rs 2,946.43 crore. The revised estimates show that the non-tax revenue stood at Rs 6,027.49 crore.