Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 8: Liabilities of Jammu and Kashmir have recorded more than 100 per cent increase during last eight Financial Years (FYs) while there has been improvement in the Fiscal Deficit as compared to last year though the Government slightly missed the target.
These revelations have been made in the report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which were released today to the media.
“Total debt of Jammu and Kashmir was Rs 28,724 crores during 2009-10, which have gone up to Rs 62,207 crores during 2016-17,” the report revealed. It said total public debt borrowings during 2016-17 were Rs 20,749 crore. Out of this, only Rs 8286 crore (40 per cent) was spent on capital works while rest amount was used to service previous debt.
“Public debt and other liabilities stand to 50.73 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) (after excluding Rs 3538 crore for bonds under UDAY scheme), still higher than the FRBM target of 49.25 per cent,” the CAG said.
It added: “as against FRBM target for fiscal deficit of 3 per cent of GSDP during the year 2016-17, the fiscal deficit stood at 4.13 per cent of GSDP (Rs 1,15,654 crore) after excluding bonds issued under UDAY scheme. This is an improvement over the previous year ratio of fiscal deficit to GSDP of 8.77 per cent.”.
The CAG noted that even though the accounts indicated a revenue surplus of Rs 2166 crore, the State actually had a revenue deficit of Rs 187 crore.
An analysis of expenditure by the CAG showed that total expenditure was 77 per cent of the budgetary estimates while revenue expenditure was Rs 39,812 crore, which was 89 per cent of the budgeted amount of Rs 44,975 crores.
Significantly, 60 per cent of revenue expenditure (Rs 23,906 crore) was on committed expenditure like salaries, interest and pensions. Capital expenditure at Rs 8362 crore was only 47 per cent of the budget (Rs 17,781 crore).
“There was significant increase of 57.46 per cent in the net borrowing limit of Rs 3470 crore fixed by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, for Jammu and Kashmir Government for the year 2016-17. The net borrowing of the State during 2016-17 was Rs 5,463.85 crore (excluding Rs 1397.55 crore of UDAY Scheme),” the CAG said.
It pointed out that the Contingency Fund of the State was not recouped for Rs 15 lakh (Rs 5 lakh of 2015-16 and Rs 10 lakh of 2016-17) despite required to be done in same financial year by obtaining approval from the Legislature.
“During 2016-17, investment in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) increased by Rs 256 crore and income from dividend decreased by Rs 9.02 crore. Major investment was made in Jammu and Kashmir Bank (Rs 250 crore). Total investment as share capital in PSUs stood at Rs 803.74 crore in 38 entities at the end of 2016-17. However, during the financial year, dividend of Rs 45.11 crore (5.61 per cent) was received from one PSU only i.e. Jammu and Kashmir Bank,” the CAG pointed out.
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