With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, Gujarat Finance Minister Nitin Patel on Friday preferred to present in the State Assembly a Rs 1,20,390 crore vote-on-account budget for the 2014-15 financial year.
Patel, who pegged a revenue surplus of Rs 7,697 crore, told the State Assembly that though the fiscal deficit had been estimated at Rs 17,611 crore it was just 1.93 per cent of the gross state domestic product.
The interim plan allocation for 2014-15 is Rs 61,940 crore. The provision for social sectors in the new financial year in areas like education, health and family welfare, women and child development and tribal and social welfare has been stepped up by more than 120 per cent each.
The minister said the total receipts are estimated at Rs 1,19,527 crore, a rise of 10 per cent over that of 2013-14. Revenue receipts have registered an increase of 12 per cent with estimates of Rs 95,440 crore. The government expects to mop up Rs 63,068 crore from taxes in the new financial year, while it estimates a non-tax revenue of Rs 7,214 crore.
The per capita income in Gujarat in 2012-13 stood at Rs 96,976, compared to the national average of Rs 67,839. The per capita income in the country increased at the rate of 9.7 per cent between 2011-12 and 2012-13, while the rate in Gujarat was 11.2 per cent during the same period, Patel said.
As against the collective net loss of Rs 2,702 crore in the State public sector undertakings (PSUs) in 2001-2, these bodies have registered a net profit of Rs 4,041 crore in 2012-13. The share of PSUs in GSDP in 2012-13 was 13.09 per cent.
