Goa government to present Budget on March 25

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar will present his first ever budget on the floor of the House on March 25.

The Business Advisory Committee report, which was tabled on the floor of the House today, says that the annual financial statement for the year 2015-16 would be presented on March 25.

The state is currently going through a critical financial situation due to a ban on mining export for last two years. When there was no ban on mining exports, the state earned a revenue of Rs 900 crore annually.

Parsekar said that Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which revoked the three-year-old suspension of environmental clearances (ECs) of mines in Goa, has come as a welcome step for the upcoming budget.

"We would not have been able to draft a budget without the income from mining industry," Parsekar said refusing to divulge the exact revenue from mining projected in the upcoming budget.

The state government's figures indicate that despite the mining ban, the state had its Gross Domestic Product rising from 4.17 per cent for financial year 2012-13 to 7.17 per cent for FY 2013-14.

While Parsekar had hinted in the past at having additional resource mobilisation to spruce up the finances, the government has kept silence on the avenues that they would be scouting for.

The increase in taxation on various sectors is one of the areas that the state government might look out for, said a senior finance ministry official on the condition of anonymity.

He said the state will tighten the noose around those who avoid paying Value Added Tax (VAT). The thrust would be on collecting VAT so that the revenue flow to the treasury is steady.