CHENNAI: Finance Secretary S Krishnan on Friday said that the aim of the State government is to allocate most of the funds borrowed for capital expenditure. Though this could not be implemented fully from this year, this objective would be the watchword hereafter, he explained.
Explaining the salient features of the revised Budget for the year 2021-22, the Finance Secretary said allocations for various schemes have been made considering the fact that reducing the expenditure drastically or increasing it would affect the economy during the pandemic.
Asked about the overall drop in the State's Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) during the last fiscal, Krishnan said, "In 2019-20, the SOTR was Rs.1,07,462 crore. We expected that it would go up to Rs.1,09,968 crore in the revised estimates. We will be falling short of that. It is estimated at Rs.1,06,152 crore as per the preliminary estimates."
On the SOTR growth during the current fiscal, the Finance Secretary said, "We saw good growth during April and May. The growth faded a bit in June. We are waiting for the numbers during July. Now that the second wave is contained, we expect economic activity will pick up and expect significant growth in the rest of the year. But we are keeping our fingers crossed as this is a year of uncertainty. With the plugging of leakages planned and due to the revenue from commercial taxes and registration departments, we are hopeful that the estimated growth in SOTR will be achieved."
Responding to a question, Krishnan said, "The net borrowing during the current financial year would be Rs.92,484 crore. During the past three months, the State government has borrowed around Rs.40,000 crore."
Regarding the revenue to be generated from TASMAC sales, the Finance Secretary said, "There is a marginal growth in revenue this year from TASMAC. It may be around Rs 35,000 crore. Due to a reduction in the number of shops and due to awareness programmes... liquor consumption may come down in the future. As such, we cannot depend solely on TASMAC revenue. So, we have to augment revenue through other sources too. This will be applicable to any State."