MUMBAI: On the back of higher tax revenues and a lower expenditure, the combined revenue receipts of 12 states grew at a robust 17.6 per cent in the April-June 2017 against 11.1 per cent in the year-ago period, says a report by the domestic rating agency Icra. This, the report notes, leaves them with a fiscal surplus of Rs 4,080 crore.
The numbers are only of 12 states-- Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra -- because unaudited numbers are available only from them.
Notably, these states have budgeted fiscal deficit of a whopping Rs 1,14,160 crore for the current fiscal year, says Icra chief economist Aditi Nayar.
These states also showed unaudited revenue surplus of Rs 43,430 crore in Q1 against revenue deficit of Rs 11,890 crore as budgeted for the year.
According to Icra, tax revenues of these states rose 17.1 per cent, almost double of 9.6 per cent a year ago, non-tax revenues rose 19.5 per cent against 17.3 per cent, taking the overall revenue receipts growth to 17.6 per cent.
These states’ tax revenue and non-tax revenue account for 78 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, of incremental revenue during the reporting quarter and their tax revenue alone expanded by 16.5 per cent.
In contrast, the states’ combined revenue expenditure declined to 10.3 per cent from 15.9 per cent, but revenue spending stood at 17.3 per cent of the Budget 2018 estimates, in line with the trend last year.
Again, their capital outlay contracted by 19.3 per cent against 51.9 per cent increase a year ago, which was partly due to the late presentation of the 2018 Budget following the Assembly polls in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.