Jammu : Terming the Rs 1,18,728-crore interim Budget for Jammu and Kashmir “growth oriented”, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday said the Union territory’s financial parameters have marked a steady growth over the past four years.
He said the power dues pending since 2005 are almost liquidated, which is a big achievement for his administration.
Sinha said the government is committed to peace, progress and prosperity of the Union territory.
Parliament recently passed the 2024-25 interim Budget for Jammu and Kashmir, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The interim Budget envisages a fiscal deficit of Rs 20,760 crore and a 7.5 per cent growth in the gross state domestic product (GSDP).
The capital expenditure for the fiscal has been proposed at Rs 38,566 crore, which is 14.64 per cent of the GSDP, according to the interim Budget tabled by the minister on February 5.
“This is an interim Budget and no big announcement was made in it. This was the fifth budget for Jammu and Kashmir prepared under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and during these five years, the government was successful in achieving various targets like overall development, employment generation and industrial growth,” Sinha told a press conference here.
He said the self-respect of the people of Jammu and Kashmir was restored with better opportunities for the youth, improved living conditions of farmers, women and the poor.
“The decades-old wounds of the people were healed and discrimination ended,” he said, adding the immediate goal of utilising funds is to accelerate the pace of economic development in Jammu and Kashmir and make it multi-dimensional.
“The Budget 2024-25 is primarily a growth-oriented budget and in line with the endeavours of the UT government to double its economy in the next few years,” the Lt Governor said.
He said the capital expenditure recorded a quantum jump of 245 per cent in the past four years, reaching Rs 38,566 crore.
The Lt Governor said his administration followed the Centre’s “mantra” on GDP – ‘G’ for good governance, ‘D’ for development and ‘P’ for performance – and also added fiscal consolidation to it.
“The financial progress of the UT was fully taken care of with focus on how to increase revenue and capital expenditure and minimize the wasteful expenditure and it was achieved successfully,” he said.
He said the revenue receipt estimates for 2024-25 is Rs 97,861 crore, a 92 per cent increase compared to 2018-19.
As far as the GSDP is concerned, Sinha said, the reforms brought by the administration over the past four to five years resulted in its increase from Rs 1.6 lakh crore in 2018-19 to Rs Rs 2.4 lakh crore this year.
The tax revenue witnessed an increase of 12 to 15 per cent in the last four years, while the number of GST payers increased from 72,000 in 2018 to over two lakh at present and the GST revenue recorded a 51 per cent increase during the same period, he said, adding the excise revenue and stamp duty also recorded a quantum jump.
The central government’s budgetary support also recorded a 51 per cent growth, he said.
“Because of the increase in the revenue receipts and assistance of the central government, the capital expenditure is expected to reach about 15 per cent of the GDP,” he said, adding the administration has achieved success in ensuring transparency and accountability to a large extent.
Referring to Jammu and Kashmir Bank, he said it is a living example of change over the past five years. “The bank has 1.4 crore account holders and was showing a loss of Rs 1,200 crore. Today, it is running a profit of Rs 1,300 crore which is expected to reach Rs 1,800 crore at the end of this financial year.”
He said non-performing assets (NPA) of the bank dropped from 11 per cent to 4.3 per cent, while the price of its shares increased from Rs 12.4 in 2019-20 to Rs 144 this year.