Budget was a tightrope walk, says fin secretary

Budget was a tightrope walk, says fin secretary

Team TOI

14.08.2021

Given the pandemic backdrop, the revised Budget presented by the DMK government, which also happens to be its first, on Friday was a “tightrope walk”, said S Krishnan, state additional chief secretary-finance.

“We are going through difficult times. The Covid second wave has led to revenue loss, while the state had to incur additional expenditure to meet exigencies. In addition, there is pressure on the new government to fulfil its poll promises. The revised Budget has been prepared taking all these into consideration,” he told reporters on Friday.

“During a pandemic, either reducing expenditure or increasing revenue beyond a point will not help. Hence the tightrope walking exercise.”

The approach will be datacentric governance to avoid losses and to manage government assets efficiently, while taking into account people’s expectations. “The focus will be to improve revenue management and to increase revenue,” Krishnan said, underlying the reforms that could be ushered in to ensure social benefits reach the targeted.

TN borrowed ₹40,000 crore in past three months and is likely to borrow around ₹90,000 crore this year. “The borrowings are in tune to handle government expenditures and not just to fund poll promises. Our focus will be to ensure that borrowed funds are spent on capital expenditure.”

On lowering state’s own tax revenue by around ₹9,000 crore, Krishnan said the growth was good in April and May, but fell in June, while July numbers are awaited. The state earns ₹23,000 crore a year from petroleum products, Tasmac revenue is likely to retain 4% annual growth.