'Inclusive & comprehensive' Budget woos youths, women, tribals, neo-middle class.Budget size up from Rs1.01 lakh crore in 2012-13 to Rs1.14 lakh crore.
With an aim of 'all inclusive and comprehensive' development of state, Gujarat finance minister Nitin Patel on Wednesday presented a please-all budget of Rs1.14 lakh crore for the year 2013-14.
Key provisions of the budget include proposed tax hikes on cigarettes and levy of tax on used two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, while exempting educational materials and a couple of other products from VAT. However, VAT rates on petro products were kept unchanged, much to the disappointment of many.
Interestingly, this was after a decade that someone other than a certain Vaju Vala presented the state budget. Vala, who holds the record for presenting the budget a record 18-times, was seated on the speaker's chair. Incidentally, it was Patel who had also presented the budget for 2002-03, before the Vala spree.
"The total budget size for 2013-14 is Rs1,14,450 crore, 12.52% higher than Rs1,01,712 crore in 2012-13. The plan size for the year is Rs58,500 crore as against Rs51,000 crore in the previous year," Patel said.
he minister said that the budget reiterates the government's commitment to inclusive and comprehensive development. The budget woos the youths, women, tribals, and the neo-middle class.
"We have included more than 60% of the promises made in our poll manifesto. We have initiated the process to fulfill the promises made by us," Patel said.
The budgetary estimates show an overall surplus of Rs796 crore for the coming year, while fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs20,496 crore.
The social services, which include health, education and other sectors, account for lion's share of the total plan size with 42% share (Rs24,586 crore). Huge allocations have also been made for irrigation & flood control (Rs12,660 crore), agriculture (Rs3,763 crore), energy (Rs4,996 crore) and transportation (Rs5,006 crore).
The budget made a provision of Rs9,000 crore for Sardar Sarovar project, and Rs550 crore for the metro project between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The minister announced that a slew of measures will be undertaken to promote affordable housing in cities.
According to budget estimates, the state's VAT income will go up from Rs38,500 crore in 2012-13 to Rs45,300 crore in 2013-14. The total state taxes are estimated to grow from Rs52,548 crore in the current year to Rs60,208 crore in 2013-14.
The VAT on cigarettes has been increased from present 25% to 30%. The budget has also proposed 1% tax on used two-wheelers (maximum Rs500) and on used medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles (maximum Rs5,000).
The government has also increased turnover limit for paying lump sum tax from Rs50 lakh to Rs75 lakh. Micro irrigation system equipments, educational items such as pencils, rulers, erasers & sharpeners, plastic newar and agarbatti dust have been exempted from VAT. The tax on carbon credits has been reduced from 15% to 5%.
The government has hiked the limit for exemption from paying professional tax from Rs3,000 to 6,000, while electricity duty on captive power producers has been increased from 40 paise per unit to 55 paise per unit.
The minister announced that education department would launch courses to teach various foreign languages to youths. He also said that 120 new power sub-stations will be established in the next year. He announced a provision of Rs550 crore to provide 1 lakh agricultural power connections. He said that domestic gas connections will be provided to at-least 1 lakh families while 100 more CNG stations will be established.
Industry feels neglected
Another year, another budget and another disappointment! Key demands of industry to abolish input tax credit and reduce VAT on petroleum have failed to cut ice. Industrial sector, which is at the forefront of Narendra Modi's claim that Gujarat is the growth engine of India, feels ignored with just 4.2% or Rs2,500 crore, out of a total Rs58,500 crore spending, being allocated to industry and mines.
"Is government thinking that industries are self-dependent in state? This may lead to state just becoming a trading hub where goods will be brought from outside and will be then sold outside state as well since manufacturing will become expensive," said Bhagyesh Soneji, chairperson of Assocham, Gujarat council.
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