Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday presented a revenue deficit budget while announcing an amnesty scheme for Goods and Services Tax (GST) payees and a reduction of VAT on natural gas, among other tax concessions. Tabling the third budget of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the Legislative Assembly, Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, said a provision of Rs 1,50,000 crore has been made for the annual plan.

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As per the budget estimates, revenue receipts would be to the tune of Rs 4,03,427 crore, and revenue expenditure at Rs 4,27,780 crore. There would be, thus, a revenue deficit of Rs 24,353 crore, Pawar said.

The tax revenues as per the revised estimate for year 2021-22 would be Rs 2,75,498 crore. This includes revised estimate of Rs 1,55,307 crore on account of GST, VAT, Central Sales Tax, Professional Tax and other important taxes. There would be an amnesty scheme for GST arrears, to be called the `Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee Scheme, 2022', the finance minister announced.

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The duration of the scheme will be from April 1, 2022, to September 30, 2022. Under the scheme, arrears of Rs 10,000 or less per year will be waived completely.

The dealers who have run up arrears of up to Rs 10 lakh or less will have the option of paying 20 percent of the dues in lumpsum and can get waiver for the remainder. Small dealers will be benefited in almost one lakh cases of arrears while medium dealers will be benefited in 2.2 lakh cases, Pawar said.

In other concessions, the 3 percent stamp duty on gift deed and 5 percent stamp duty on sale deed will be exempted, which will cost the exchequer about Rs 21 crore.

Proposing a VAT cut for natural gas, Pawar said this fuel is environment-friendly and used for piped gas supply as well as CNG-powered motor vehicles, auto rickshaws, taxis and private vehicles. The rate of VAT on natural gas will be slashed from 13.5 percent to 3 percent. It will cause a revenue loss of Rs 800 crore, he added. An amnesty scheme under the stamp act for pending penalty dues will cost the government Rs 1,500 crore.

Waiver of stamp duty of 0.1 percent on gold and silver delivery order documents will lead to revenue shortfall of Rs 100 crore. Tax levied by the Maharashtra Maritime Board on passengers as well as pets, vehicles and goods travelling by ferries and Ro-Ro boats will be waived for three years.

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The government will make sincere efforts to achieve revised revenue collection targets, the minister added. The tax concession proposals will collectively make a dent of over Rs 2,400 crore in the state's income.

An incentive grant of Rs 50,000 each to farmers who repay their crop loans regularly, announced in 2020, could not be distributed due to financial constraints, and it will be given in the coming year, Pawar said. The grant will benefit around 20 lakh farmers, costing the exchequer Rs 10,000 crore, the finance minister said.

The budget prioritises agriculture, health, human resources, transport and industry with a five-point development programme, and the government will make available Rs 4 lakh crore in the next three years for these sectors, the finance minister said. This will result in huge investment in the economy, expanding it to USD 1 trillion, he claimed.

Revenue receipts for 2021-22, estimated at Rs 3,68,987 crore earlier, have been revised to Rs 3,62,132 crore now, Pawar said. Budget expenditure for FY 21-22 was estimated to be Rs 4,37,961 crore, while a revised estimate is Rs 4,53,547 crore.

The increase in expenditure was on account of assistance given to people during the pandemic and natural calamities, Pawar said. The state's economy was gradually recovering after the COVID-19 shock, but as the world economy has been severely impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, it will affect sectors such as agriculture, industry and services in the state, Pawar said.

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The budget also proposed an expenditure of Rs 350 crore in order to reduce the burden on the suburban rail network and roads. Pawar said the state government intends to connect Vasai, Bhayander, Dombivali, Kalyan, Vashi, Airoli, Thane and Belapur in MMR by water transport.

A high-quality water tourism project of Rs 50 crore was proposed in Shiv Sagar reservoir in Jawali taluka of Satara district in the vicinity of Koyna dam, and similar plans are afoot for Gosikhurd water body in Bhandara and Jayakwadi in Aurangabad, he said.

He said a heritage walk will be introduced in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur to get youth to know better the state's freedom fighters, revolutionaries and social reformers. The minister said Jawahar, a scenic spot in Palghar district, has been accorded 'B Class' tourism destination status and necessary funds will be made available to develop it.

He also told the House the Acharya Bal Shastri Jambekar pension scheme corpus had been increased from Rs 35 crore to Rs 50 crore.

Pawar also announced a `Medicity' offering all kinds of treatments at one place which will come up near Pune.

To be called `Indrayani Medicity', it will be spread on 300 acres and will have hospitals, medical research centres, pharmaceutical manufacturing units as well as wellness and physiotherapy clinics, he said.

It will be the first medical colony in the country to have all the treatments available in one place, he added. A finance department official said that there are similar medical hubs elsewhere in the country, but they are privately operated, while this will be a state-run hub.

The Budget also proposed increasing the intake capacity of postgraduate medical courses. A post-graduate institute will be set up at the St George Hospital in Mumbai and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Superspeciality Institute in Nagpur, the finance minister said.

First Published:Mar 11, 2022 10:01 PM IST