Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the Budget would take a huge leap forward for the overall development of the state by overcoming the pandemic. (Ganesh Shirsekar) The Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government on Friday presented the Budget for 2022-23 by launching a new five-point development agenda — Panchasutri of Development — to accelerate the economic growth of Maharashtra and to turn it into a 1 trillion dollar economy.
Presenting a Rs 5.48 lakh crore Budget for 2022-23, 13 per cent higher than Budget Estimates for 2021-22, the state government enhanced its capital expenditure by 16 per cent with an eye on enhanced infrastructure and related spends.
With an eye on corporation elections in major cities, including Mumbai, amid rising fuel prices, the government also announced to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) on natural gas from 13.5 per cent to 3 per cent on CNG. It also announced an amnesty scheme for traders that is set to benefit around 3.2 lakh traders.
In the Budget Estimates of 2022-23, revenue receipts are estimated at Rs 4,03,427 crore and revenue expenditure of Rs 4,27,780 crore, resulting in revenue deficit of Rs 24,353 crore.
“Though the economy has slowed down, the government intends to revive the economy through Panchasutri of Development Programme. This expenditure and expenditure on welfare schemes being inevitable, ensuing deficit, may be viewed favourably,” said Ajit Pawar, Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, in his Budget speech while tabling it in the Assembly on Friday.
An outlay of Rs 1,15,215 crore is proposed for five elements of Panchasutri – agriculture, health, human resource, transport and industry. As many as Rs 4 lakh crore will be provided for this programme in the next three years.
An outlay of Rs 23,888 crore is proposed for agriculture and allied sectors, Rs 5,244 crore for the health sector, Rs 46,667 crore for human development and human resources, Rs 28,605 crore for transportation infrastructure and Rs 10,111 crore for industry and energy sectors.
Pawar said that the five-point agenda is “at the core of our budget this year”. “To accelerate the economic growth of the state, which has slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the MVA government has decided to implement a special programme called ‘Panchasutri of Development’. The government will make available about Rs 4 lakh crore in the next three years for this programme. This will result in huge investments in the economy and thereby making Maharashtra the first state in the country to have a 1 trillion dollar economy,” he added.
In its fiscal statement for 2022-23, the government said, “The state has focused on building both physical and social infrastructure… increasing productive spending, which have a strong forward and backward linkage in the economy. This will result in higher job creation, increase income and boost the state’s economy. The state is focusing to create a fast and safe transportation system for increasing industrialisation, tourism and easy transportation of agricultural products.”
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the Budget would take a huge leap forward for the overall development of the state by overcoming the pandemic. Expressing confidence that the state’s target of one trillion dollar economy will be achieved through the five-point development agenda, Thackeray said, “The Budget has given a booster dose to the development of agriculture, health, human resources, transport and industry.”
The CM also said that the development of various sectors would get a big boost due to various important announcements in the Budget, such as an amnesty scheme for various tax concessions, tax concessions on natural gas and stamp duty as well as tax waiver to promote water transport.
In the agriculture and allied sectors, an incentive grant of Rs 50,000 to 20 lakh farmers who repay their crop loans regularly has been announced and an expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore is expected on it. The government has decided to waive the loan of Land Development Bank worth Rs 964 crore for 34,788 farmers and also clear Rs 275.40 crore dues of bank employees.
Pawar said that MVA government has requested the Centre to approve the ‘Beed model’ for Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme. “If it is not accepted, we will consider other options to compensate the farmers,” he added.
Further, the government has decided to provide an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore in three years for the special action plan for soya bean and cotton crops to bring the productivity of all farmers at par with progressive farmers and for value chain development. Besides, it has made provision of Rs 6,952 crore for the purchase of agricultural commodities at the minimum support price.
In the health sector, the government has announced that level-1 trauma care units of 50 beds each will be set up at Nanded, Amravati, Jalna, Bhandara, Ahmednagar and Satara districts. It has also proposed to establish 100-bed women hospitals in 16 districts and a state-of-the-art ‘Indrayani Medicity’ near Pune city. Besides, it has proposed setting up telemedicine centres in every district hospital through ‘Shiv Arogya Yojana’.
In the human resources sector, it has proposed to set up an innovation hub at a cost of Rs 500 crore for the creation of employable manpower and allocation of Rs 100 crore for start-up fund. Besides, it has proposed mobile services to 1.2 lakh Anganwadi workers and supervisors through e-Shakti Yojana, increase in child care grants from Rs 1,125 to Rs 2,500 and setting up Amrut Mahotsavi Mahila and Bal Bhavan in every district.
In the transport sector, it has announced a provision of Rs 7,500 crore for 10,000 km roads under Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana Phase II, launching of 6,550 km road improvement under Prime Minister’s Village Road Scheme Phase 3 as well as Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Highway to extend from Nagpur to Bhandara-Gondia and Nagpur to Gadchiroli. It has sanctioned Rs 16,039 crore for the Nashik-Pune medium high-speed railway project and decided to extend the Mumbai Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) corridor from Cuffe Parade to Navy Nagar.
In the industry sector, the government has announced a new scheme, Pandita Ramabai Smriti Shatabdi Mahila Udyojak Yojana, with a 100 pr cent interest refund to start a self-employment project for women widowed due to Covid-19. It will also spend Rs 11,520 crore on five projects to increase the capacity of a transmission system in Mumbai.
Besides, in a major relief to the taxpayers, the government has decided to reduce VAT on natural oil from 13.5 per cent to 3 per cent. “Environment-friendly natural gas is largely used for domestic piped gas and CNG-powered motor vehicles, autorickshaws, taxis and private vehicles. It is proposed to reduce the rate of VAT on natural gas from 13.5 per cent to 3 per cent to encourage the use of environment-friendly natural gas and to provide relief to the people,” said Pawar.
The government has also announced the amnesty scheme, which will be called Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee Scheme, 2022. This scheme is regarding concessions on various taxes levied by the sales tax department before the introduction of the GST Act. The duration of this amnesty scheme will be from April 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022
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