Kerala Budget 2018: Thomas Isaac delivers. it’s a she!

A gender-sensitive budget with specific focus on social security is what Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has rolled out for the current fiscal.

Finance Minister Thomas Issac presenting State Budget at Assembly hall in Thiruvananthapuram. (EPS | BP Deepu)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A gender-sensitive budget with specific focus on social security is what Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has rolled out for the current fiscal.

Reeling under acute financial crisis, a cash-strapped Kerala economy is looking forward to rev up its revenue generation while putting in place stringent measures to cut down wasteful expenditure. Unleashing major steps to bridge the huge gap in revenue receipts and expenditure while simultaneously cutting down wasteful expenditure, Isaac hopes to bring down the fiscal deficit from 3.3 pc to 3.1 pc in 2018-19.

A slew of measures has been introduced for additional revenue generation to the tune of Rs 970.40 crore, coupled with severe austerity measures.

In the second full-fledged budget of the Pinarayi Government, Isaac has focused on social security measures. Absolutely women-friendly in its structure and approach, the 156-page budget speech was rich with anecdotes from women writers. Taking strong note of the Ockhi-ravaged fisherfolk, Isaac introduced a coastal package of Rs 2,000 crore. Aiming to build houses for 1.76 lakh people, Rs 2,500 crore has been earmarked for the LIFE Mission. Even while coming up with a rehabilitation scheme for KSRTC, Isaac made categorically clear the government would not bear the pension arrears.

The GST regime that was implemented without proper planning was a setback to the economy that was already reeling under the impact of demonetisation, Isaac said. The economic growth rate till November was only 5.2 pc against the budget estimate of 16.08 pc, he said.Underscoring the imperative need for fiscal discipline to overcome the present crisis, the budget proposed to limit fiscal deficit to 3 pc. Isaac expressed the hope to reduce the revenue deficit by 20-30 basis points from the current budget. The government targets to bring down the revenue deficit from 1.9 pc in 2017-18 in the revised estimate to 1.6 pc in 2018-19.

In a nutshell

■ Traditional industries like cashew and textile mills get solutions to stay on course
■ KSRTC to be made smart and efficient with more buses, less financial constraints
■ Power Department to launch electric autorickshaws at Kochi Metro stations
■ Vehicle owners who tried to dodge tax with Puducherry registration can escape police action by paying tax during amnesty period. State expects a revenue mop-up of Rs 100 cr
■ Fair value of land hiked by 10 pc. Stamp duty revised expecting an additional revenue of Rs 25 cr
■ K970 cr for general education; Rs 789 crore for higher education
■ Water Authority innovation zone to be set up as part of bailing out KWA

In an exclusive interview to Express, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac exudes confidence the state tax revenues would grow by 25 per cent once the glitches associated with the implementation of GST regime get sorted out.

Excerpts
What makes you proud of this Budget?
This is a ‘gender responsive’ budget. It has concern for the differently-abled. The healthcare programme will be the next Kerala Model. Jaitley claims his NHPS will be the biggest in the world. But the Kerala programme will be distinct.