State govt failed to utilise 32% of budget estimate

Maharashtra govt spent 67.7% of ₹7.33 trillion budget estimate for 2023-24, but 85% of revised estimate. Supplementary demands led to spending over 100% of budget.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government spent just 67.7% of its budget estimate of ₹7.33 trillion for the year ended March 2024. However, the state government said that its spending of ₹4.96 trillion for the year was around 85% of the revised estimate submitted in February. It also said that if supplementary demands worth ₹1.05 trillion are deducted, the government spent more than the budget estimate.

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“If the supplementary demands are deducted, spending is more than 100% of the budget estimates, which are presented before the beginning of the financial year,” said OP Gupta, additional chief secretary of the state’s finance department. “It is around 85% of the revised estimates, which are presented in the month of February just a few weeks before the end of the year.” Gupta added that a leeway of around 15% between budget estimates and actual spending has been the practice for years and “is assumed to be prudent fiscal position”.

A senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, requesting anonymity, said that the “unprecedented” ₹1.05 trillion worth of supplementary demands was 17% of the actual budget presented in February 2023. “This shows budgetary discipline as the budgeted amount kept changing as per changes in priorities. For instance, after the Ajit Pawar faction [of the Nationalist Congress Party] joined the state government in July 2023, there were supplementary demands of ₹55,220 crore to make allocations for the constituencies of the NCP MLAs.”