Maharashtra Budget Focused On Farm Sector But Stays Away From Loan Waiver

The state of Maharashtra on Saturday presented its budget for the coming financial year with a focus on spending on the farm sector, including irrigation projects.

Detailing the state’s priorities for financial year 2017-18, state finance minister Sudhir Mungatiwar termed the budget as “agriculture centric.”

“The government is committed to increase the investment in agriculture and initiate a number of steps to provide for more irrigation, power, rural communication," said Mungatiwar. The state’s economy grew at a strong 9.4 percent in financial year 2016-17, he said.

For the soon to be concluded year, the state reported a fiscal deficit of 2.2 percent of GDP. It expects to reduce this to 1.5 percent of GDP in the new fiscal. Borrowings for the new fiscal have been pegged at Rs 38.892 crore compared to Rs 49,454 crore last year. For the year 2017-18, the government has estimated revenue receipts of Rs 2.43 lakh crore while the expenditure is estimated at Rs 2.48 lakh crore, Mungantiwar said.

In the agriculture sector, the state government said that it has allotted Rs 8,233 crore for the water resources department and another Rs 200 crore to improve agricultural production. In addition, a special World bank project targeting the drought prone regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha, entailing a spend of Rs 400 crore, has been budgeted for. Rs 1200 crore has been earmarked for the government 's flagship program- Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan - which aims to establish the Marathwada water grid.

As the budget was presented, the opposition protested and demanded a discussion on the farm loan waiver issue. However, Mungantiwar maintained that the government is committed to a loan waiver only for those farmers who are heavily indebted. This, too, would only be considered after proper consultations with the central government, he said.

To improve the state’s infrastructure, the government has set aside Rs 7,000 crore for maintenance and improvement of roads, as against Rs 4347 crore last year. "Over the next 5 years, we envisage approximately a requirement of Rs one lakh crore to finance capital expenditure of key infrastructure," said Mungantiwar. Separately, Rs 710 crore has been set aside for the metro rail project in Mumbai.