Bengaluru:In a first in the post-pandemic, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday presented a revenue surplus budget in the runup to this year’s assembly elections in the state.
“I am happy to announce that the state has registered a revenue surplus,” he said presenting Karnataka Budget 2023 on the floor of the state legislature assembly here.
Bommai said the revenue receipts are estimated to be Rs 402 crore more than revenue expenditure.
“Against a target of Rs 29,000 crore in revenue collection for the excise department, the state is expecting a revenue of Rs 32,000 crore towards the end of this fiscal,” he said.
Bommai said the target for 2023-24 is fixed at Rs 35,000 crore, a 20 per cent increase from the previous year’s target.
In a surplus revenue from stamps and registration, the government has collected Rs 17,000 crore against the target of Rs 15,000 crore, he said. “This is 13 per cent higher than the budget estimate. Presumably, the government’s 10 percent rebate on guidance value has helped shore up the revenue,” he added.
Bommai said the state also reduced the fiscal deficit to 2.6 percent of GSDP. “As per the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the fiscal deficit needs to be below 3 per cent. The fiscal deficit is expected to be Rs 60,581 crore,” he said.
