HP presents Rs 49,131 crore Budget for 2020 infra, education, housing top focus areas

The Himachal Pradesh government on Friday presented a Rs 49,131-crore Budget for the fiscal 2020-21 and said the state has a debt burden of Rs 55,737 crore. The debt on Himachal Pradesh is higher than the amount earmarked in the budget for the next fiscal presented in the state Assembly on Friday. Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur presented the Budget for the next fiscal which saw more focus on road and air connectivity, housing for poor and scheduled castes and quality education. Soon after presenting the budget, Thakur responding to a media query revealed that the debt burden on the state rose to Rs 55,737 crore.

Earlier while presenting the budget, the chief minister said that Rs 10.4 would be spent on interest payment out of every hundred rupees to be spent by the state government in 2020-21. In this way, over ten per cent of total budget amount will be spent on loan interest payment. In other words, the state government will use approximately Rs 5,109 crore on loan interest payment out of the total Rs 49,131 crore budget in 2020-21. No new tax has been proposed in the budget which saw an increase of Rs 4,743 crore from Rs 44,388 crore in 2019-20. It was 41,440 crore in 2018-19. The revenue receipts of 2020-21 are estimated at Rs 38,429 crore, whereas expenditure is likely to be Rs 39,123 crore -- leading to a revenue deficit of Rs 694 crore.

The fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 7,272 crore for 2020-21, which is 4 per cent of GSDP. The net borrowing will be 3 per cent of GSDP. Presenting his third budget, Thakur, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced 25 new schemes for various sections. Most of new schemes named as Swaran Jayanti as Himachal Pradesh is celebrating golden jubilee of its statehood this year. In his nearly three-hour address in the Assembly while tabling the 150-page proposed budget, Thakur said Rs 26.66 would be spent on salaries out of every hundred rupees to be spent by the state government in 2020-21. Similarly Rs 14.79 will be spent on pension, Rs 10.4 on interest payment, Rs 7.29 on loan repayment and Rs 41.22 will be on development works and other activities, he added.