Ratan Watal, Finance Secretary, said there was a sharp improvement in the quality of Central government expenditure and funds were no longer left idle in the system.
The state government finances are managed very well and this has been one of the reasons for India’s robust growth at the time of global turmoil, but conceded that the higher devolution of funds to states poses a challenge on the upcoming Union Budget, Mr. Watal said.
“There are eight to 10 states which are growing at 12 per cent or more and are touted to be the growth drivers in the next two-three years,” he said in a statement issued by the Finance Ministry on Sunday.
Mr Watal also said that planning remains a vital element of policy-making although 2016-17 would mark the last year of the XIIth Five Year Plan that was formulated by the erstwhile Planning Commission. “The role of Niti Aayog (the body set up to replace the Commission) extends beyond the XIIth Five Year Plan.”
For planning beyond the XIIth Plan, the Prime Minister’s Office has created different groups involving between 50 and 60 secretaries that have been mandated to prepare presentations for officers of different ministries to chart the course of future ideas, the finance secretary informed.
Asserting that the capital expenditure by the Centre has improved significantly, Mr Watal said: “There has been a complete change in the quality of expenditure. It has improved and is now more focused. There is no parking of money, it’s going where it is required and revenues are being tracked by the government on a regular basis.”
This, he said, had resulted in ‘greater assets creation’ and has been a driver for India's nominal GDP growing at a much faster pace at 8.6 per cent compared to the global scenario, he said. “The nature of our expenditure and our macroeconomic fundamentals are very strong.”
