E-Paper
Uttar Pradesh government spends 33.54% of annual budget in first six months of 2022-23
Increasing economic activity boosts state government’s revenue collections, says U.P. finance minister Suresh Khanna
The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday claimed its tax collections and expenditure have gone up in the first six months of 2022-23. It earned tax revenue of ₹83,996.99 crore in the first six months of 2022-23 (April 1, to September 30, 2022). Its collections were 76.2% of the six-month target of ₹1,10,229.31 crore and 38.1% of the annual target of ₹2,20,655.00 crore.
The Uttar Pradesh government spent ₹2,06,754.34 lakh crore during the same six-month period. Its expenditure is 33.54% of the annual budget (about ₹6.15 lakh crore) for 2022-2023. It had spent ₹1,77,918.13 lakh crore during the same six-month period in 2021-22.
“We have witnessed an increase in revenue earnings due to strengthening of economic activities in the state. An adverse impact of Covid-19 was witnessed on the state’s economy earlier. But the economy is back to near normal,” said minister for finance Suresh Khanna while releasing data about the state government’s earnings and expenditure in the first six months of 2022-23.
Giving details of departmental expenditure, he said the housing department spent 40.80% of the budgetary allocations. He said the expenditure incurred by cooperative department was 46.55%, panchayati raj department 40.39%, medical and family welfare department 38.12%, transport 46.89%, information 77.19%, stamps and registration 41.11%, basic education 30.90% and secondary education 39.70%.
Khanna said the state government’s non-tax revenue collection in the first six months of 2022-23 was ₹5,318.90 crore, about 48.3% of the target of ₹11,017.91 crore for the period. He said the state government earned a total revenue of ₹14,661.89 crore in September 2022, an increase of ₹3123.73 crore against total earnings of ₹11,538.16 crore in the same month in 2021. This includes an increase of ₹2422.90 crore from VAT (Value Added Tax) in September 2022.
Suresh Khanna said besides increasing economic activity, another reason for higher VAT collections may be an increase in consumption of diesel by farmers due to deficit rainfall this monsoon. He said the state government’s collections from excise also came down marginally this year. The state government collected ₹2536.38 crore from excise in September 2022. This was 86% of the target for the month and ₹23.47 crore less than collections of ₹2559.85 crore in the same month in 2021.
“It is a good sign that the state government’s revenue is showing an increase over the months. However, the tax revenue is only 38.1% of the annual target. The state government needs to make greater efforts to collect more revenue in the second half of the financial year. A hefty increase in VAT in September 2022 may be because of higher economic activity. As far as the state government’s expenditure is concerned, it’s only 33.54% of the annual budget of ₹6.15 lakh crore. This is a cause of concern as this may lead to short fall in the expenditure against the budget. This is not good for the state’s economy,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department of economics, Lucknow University.
