In what is clearly an aspiration-driven budget, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has sought to give a big push to infrastructure development using extra-budgetary resources even while attempting to raise tax revenue with better tax administration and fresh imposts.
Land transactions would cost more with the Finance Minister hiking the registration levies. He has slapped a ‘green tax’ on vehicles aged more than 15 years and increased the levies on stage carriages. The various additional imposts are expected to net Rs.805 crore. The fresh levies notwithstanding, Dr. Isaac anticipates a year-end deficit of Rs.746.69 crore.
The Finance Minister has announced a Rs.12,000-crore package to fight economic slowdown by taking up major infrastructure projects. The necessary funds would be raised through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) issuing bonds, term loans from banks, and funds that have the approval of the RBI and SEBI.
Change in lawsThe government would stand guarantee for the funds thus raised. Appropriate legislative changes would be brought about and governance mechanisms created to facilitate this.
On the welfare side, the Finance Minister has announced an across-the-board hike in social welfare pensions to Rs.1,000 and promised a comprehensive insurance scheme covering treatment of all major non-communicable diseases. The State government will also bring forward a comprehensive law to offer protection to migrant workers, pay pension to transgenders aged above 60, and create a separate department for women.
Agro-parksWhile a ‘fat tax’ has been imposed on food articles of conspicuous consumption such as pizzas and burgers sold through branded restaurants, the new imposts will push up the prices of a few commodities such as basmati rice.
In the productive sector, there will be massive deployment of resources to ensure value addition to agriculture through the establishment of a string of agro-parks at an estimated outlay of Rs.500 crore, acquisition of 5,100 acres of land at an estimated Rs.5,100 crore over five years to set up multipurpose industrial zones, adoption of soil conservation as a key activity under MGNREGS, greater mechanisation of the coir industry, creation of Kochi-Palakkad industrial corridor, and a Rs.1,325-crore initiative to promote the IT industry.
Solar energyIn the energy sector, the government’s strategy will be to lean more on solar energy.
A beginning in this direction will be made this year by launching a scheme to install solar panels atop homes to generate 1,000 MW power.
