Tamil Nadu presents deficit budget without any new taxes

Chennai, July 21: Tamil Nadu's AIADMK government, that was voted back to power in the May 2016 assembly elections, on Thursday presented a deficit budget for 2016-17 without any new taxes.

Presenting the budget in the assembly, Finance Minister O.Panneerselvam said the revenue deficit for the ongoing financial year has been estimated to be Rs 15,854.47 crore and the fiscal deficit at Rs 40,533.84 crore.

"The total revenue receipts under the various categories of revenue resources for 2016-2017 has been estimated at Rs 1,48,175.09 crore in the revised budget estimates as against the interim budget estimates of Rs 1,52,004.23 crore," he said, adding that the state's outstanding debt at the end of this fiscal will be around Rs.2.52 lakh crore.

During 2016-2017, the state has given thrust to capital expenditure with an allocation of Rs 24,679.38 crore, he said.

Panneerselvam said the government has formulated five missions with ambitious targets - Mission for water resource management and revival of Kudimaramath (maintenance of water systems by people); Mission for housing to achieve hut-free villages and slum-free cities; Mission for poverty reduction and economic empowerment of the poor; Mission for a clean Tamil Nadu; and Mission for skill development.

According to him, the 'Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project' will be taken up with the World Bank assistance at a cost of Rs 900 crore, while a sum of Rs 355.81 crore has been provided for poverty reduction schemes in the state in the budget.

For urban livelihood programmes, an amount of Rs.350 crore has been provided in the budget.

Panneerselvam said that during the current fiscal it is proposed to train 200,000 youth for skill development and a sum of Rs 150 crore has been earmarked for the project.

He also said that a sum of Rs.2,000 crore has been allocated in the budget for Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Fund.

He added that the government promoted infrastructure projects through the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TNIFMC) which is now in the process of mobilising the first financial closure of Rs 3,000 crore.

Panneerselvam also said the government will give 12,000 milch cows to poor women and 400,000 goats/sheep to one lakh poor families this fiscal, while it has also decided to provide 5.35 lakh students with laptops during the current year at an outlay of Rs 890 crore.

IANS