State Finances

When the Union government announced Budget for 2022-23, it had projected revenue to be 8.5% of GDP. A Business Standard analysis of latest report on state finances showed that states are catching up

Maintaining the momentum will be challenging

Food subsidies are a major portion of subsidies provided by states

Greater scrutiny shows that stagnant revenues and unrestrained freebies have left most of them in a perilous position

The previous five years saw the states' share, except for 2019-20, in between 34.5% and 37%, whereas the recommendation was to give them a 42% share

Public sector undertakings (PSUs) in non-strategic sectors shall be considered for privatisation, or they shall be closed, said Minister of State Finance Bhagwat Karat in Rajya Sabha.

States will demand an extension of the compensation period or a change in the GST revenue distribution formula

Observing that the slowdown in own tax revenue, a high share of committed expenditure and rising subsidy burdens have stretched state government finances already exacerbated by Covid, the article said

In addition to the regular instalment of tax devolution, the Centre released two advance instalments of in November 2021 and January 2022.

However some such as Punjab and West Bengal are not on sound financial ground

Rs 2,531 crore for waiver of agricultural loans, Rs 1,000 crore for waiver of jewel loans and Rs 600 crore for waiving self-help group loans has been allotted

An RBI analysis showed that during the second wave, 22% of municipalities reported revenue loss of an alarming 50% and more

From banking in the US to politics in India, Thiagarajan's journey has been eventful.

Aggregate debt raised from the market by states has risen in nine months of this year by a massive 43.5% over last year. It is the biggest jump in state borrowings ever

It is vital that we have a proper discussion on the medium-term economic and fiscal situation based on the Fifteenth Finance Commission medium-term assessment

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day

The territories have either spent excessively or have saved unreasonably. In either case, there is a cost that the citizen ends up bearing

The government has rung up just about Rs 95,000 crore as GST in April and May together, and that is less than half compared with the collection in the corresponding months last year.

He said that the fiscal stimulus, by its very nature, is additional fiscal burden on the public finances

Ways and means advances (WMAs) are short-term advances the central bank gives to help states tide over temporary mismatches in their cash flow.