External loans to Maharashtra departments after CM's approval: Govt order

All Maharashtra departments will have to submit a preliminary project report to the chief minister for approval to avail external assistance loans from multilateral bilateral and international funding agencies as per a government order reported news agency PTIThe external loans should not be treated as a source to fulfil financial needs and it should be ensured they are within the fiscal deficit limits said a government resolution GR issued by the state finance department on TuesdayNegotiations and loan agreements should be done with the approval of the state cabinet the order saidWhile raising external assistance loans care should be taken to ensure that fiscal deficit will remain within limits of the FRBM Act and also within limits of the Net Borrowing Ceiling approved by the Central Government it said reported PTIAs per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management FRBM Act the government is required to limit the fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of the gross state domestic product GSDPIn the 202526 budget the state managed to keep the fiscal deficit at 27 per cent slightly lower than the 29 per cent in the previous fiscalThe government order said the external loans should not be treated as a source to fulfil financial needsA preliminary project report prepared with assistance from the Maharashtra Institute for Transformation MITRA should be submitted to the chief minister and then after approval the report should be uploaded on the website of the central governments Department of Economic Affairs DEA it said reported PTIOnce approved by the DEAs screening committee a detailed project report DPR will be presented to the central government and the funding agencies for various infrastructure and socially relevant projects the order saidThe DPR should adequately reflect the strategic elements of technoeconomic ecological sociocultural and institutional dimensions in the project design it saidAn objectiveoriented project design along with a work plan cost and time schedule should be part of the DPR the order saidNegotiations loan agreements should be done with the state cabinets approval and the action taken report should be submitted to the Union finance ministry after completion reported PTICare should be taken to ensure the project is completed in time the order saidIn the more than Rs 700020 crore Maharashtra budget for the fiscal 202526 presented by state Finance Minister Ajit Pawar last month the government projected a revenue deficit of Rs 45891 crore and a fiscal deficit of more than Rs 136000 crore reported PTIThe revenue receipts are expected to be more than Rs 560000 croreDeputy Chief Minister Pawar had said the government has been successful in keeping the fiscal deficit below 3 per cent of the GSDP and the states revenue deficit has been consistently less than 1 per cent of the gross state incomeWith inputs from PTIatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params