State will overcome from deficit: TN Finance Secretary

Tamil Nadu Government's Finance Secretary K Ganadesikan has said that the government would overcome the deficit as the 13th Finance Commission has exempted the target of the deficit for this year. "Fiscal Deficit was not a cause of worry", Ganadesikan added.

After the presentation of the state budget for the year 2010-11, on Friday, Mr Gnanadesikan said this year, the state government was obliged to keep the fiscal deficit at 4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and the government managed to keep the deficit at 3.75 per cent of the GSDP.

The Commission had fixed a fiscal deficit target of three per cent for the year 2011-12 and the state government would manage to keep the deficit at this level as all the arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission would be cleared by then.

Further he said the outlays for major schemes like Free colour TV sets and Cooperative loan waiver would be over by the end of this financial year.

On Centre's proposed Good and Services Tax, he said still there was no consensus between the Centre and states and among the states. This would affect manufacturing states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, ''but we cannot say how this will impact the state''.

Mr Ganadesikan said there was a steep fall in revenue during last year due to the economic recession. However, during 2011-12, the revenue through VAT would grow by 15 per cent and stamp duty collection by 20 per cent.

- Asian Tribune -