Maharashtra's GST revenue increased 19.9 per cent, highest for a state in the country: Ajit Pawar

Ajit Pawar. File pic

Maharashtra's gross state domestic product (GSDP) was expected to grow by 10 per cent in FY 2024-25 and the government is committed to ensure that revenue deficit doesn't cross the prescribed limit, Finance Minister Ajit Pawar told the Legislative Assembly on Friday, reported PTI.

Pawar was replying to a debate on the interim budget for FY 2024-25 presented in the Lower House earlier this week. He said the fiscal deficit -- gap between government's income and expenditure -- has been restricted at 2.32 per cent of state GDP. GSDP indicates total economic output generated within a state's boundaries over a specified period, typically a fiscal year.

Th state finance minister said that the GST (Goods and Services Tax) recovery has also increased substantially. The GST revenue has increased 19.9 per cent, which is the highest for a state in the country. Pawar said the state's current debt is 18.02 per cent of the GSDP and added the prescribed limit should be 25 per cent, PTI report said.

Ajit Pawar maintained the interim budget, in which total expenditure for the next fiscal year was pegged at Rs 6,00,522 crore with a revenue deficit of Rs 9,734 crore. Pawar noted the government was pro-farmer and highlighted measures taken for cultivators, including providing benefit of crop insurance, through centrally-sponsored Namo Shetkari Sanman scheme and providing essential foodgrains at subsidised rates.

Pawar also clarified on the management of Mahananda Dairy- a state government entity. It will be handed over to any institution which gives the best proposal for managing it, and he rejected speculations that the undertaking has been handed over to a Gujarat-based organisation.

Opposition members walked out protesting against Pawar's reply, stating that common citizens had not got any relief in the interim budget.

Meanwhile, a Maharashtra minister, Dada Bhuse, state Public Works Department (PWD) and Karjat MLA Mahendra Thorve, both belonging to the ruling Shiv Sena, were seen engaging in an altercation in the lobby of the Vidhan Bhavan complex, PTI reported.

When Bhuse and Thorve argued, another minister Shambhuraj Desai and Shiv Sena's chief whip Bharat Gogawale intervened and defused the tense situation.

This is for the first time that members of the ruling party engaged in an altercation in this manner in the legislature complex.

(With PTI inputs)