CM to Siddu: State has not resorted to excess borrowings

NT Correspondent

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has ruled out any excess borrowing by his government and said though the Union government had permitted the state to borrow an additional Rs 4500 crore, it was not done.

Replying to the debate on the state budget for the year 2022-23 in the Assembly here on Wednesday, the CM dismissed Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah’s claim that the government has resorted to excess borrowing to run its affairs and said the Centre had given the state Rs 54,000 crore as GST compensation and Rs 30,000 crore as loan. Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman has promised to release the GST dues of Rs 12,990 crore to Karnataka as early as possible.

The Centre had permitted the state to raise an additional Rs 4,000 crore but the facility was not utilised. The 2021 Finance Commission had recommended the release of Rs 24,019 crore fund for the current financial year. Already, Rs 27,145 crore had been released to the state. For the year 2022- 23, the Finance Commission had recommended release of Rs 26,719 crore and Rs 29,736 crore has been proposed in the Union budget.

Karnataka has received Rs 8000 crore as GST share and Rs 93,000 crore comes to the state from the Union government under various heads. The GST compensation to the state is more under the Modi government than the previous Manmohan Singh government. The state’s GST collection was Rs 87,069 crore of which Rs 48,000 crore had been returned. Under State GST, 40 per cent returns are expected.