DNA EXCLUSIVE: Maharashtra economy in good health, says Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar

Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar will present budget on June 18 in the state Legislature. This being the last budget of the government ahead of Assembly election just three months away, Mungantiwar may announce populist proposals while providing a development roadmap to achieve $1 trillion dollar economy by 2025. In an interview with DNA, Mungantiwar explains the government's strategy

You have already presented an interim budget. How the full budget will be different?

The state government has been consistently working to boost the gross state domestic product (GSDP), per capita income, investments, infrastructure development and reduce the debt burden and income inequality. Despite this, nearly 3.5 crore people are still living in miserable conditions and the government aims to improve their conditions. Our focus will be on agriculture, education, health, development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and infrastructure development.

The area under agriculture is rapidly falling so also its contribution to the total GSDP. The cluster farming and deployment of modern technology will be explored to boost production.

Currently, 58 lakh people are employed in the MSME alone. It will be the state's endeavour to boost MSME growth and the government has already put in place a comprehensive policy. As far as infrastructure development is concerned, the government has taken a slew of projects in Mumbai and rest of state. In Mumbai alone, the Metro Rail network, which is currently just 11.4 km, will be increased to 276 km. In addition to this, the Mumbai coastal road project has been launched. Mumbai-Nagpur expressway is also being developed.

State has a debt burden of Rs 4.50 lakh crore while revenue deficit is rising. Is the state in debt trap?

There is misinformation or a negative campaign run by a certain section that the state's economic condition is deteriorating. In fact, the state economy is quite sound and is in healthy condition. The state was revenue surplus with Rs 2,082 crore in 2017-18 and it will have a similar trend in '18-19 and '19-20.

The state's GSDP has grown to Rs 31.31 lakh crore in 2017-18 from Rs 10.49 lakh crore. The per capita income is at Rs 1,92,000. The expenditure on salary and wages, pension and interest have been reduced to 52% from 80%. This is despite the implementation of 7th Pay Commission report to state government employees. The total debt is just 14.82% of the GSDP which had gone to 28.2% of the GSDP during the tenure of previous governments. This is despite the crop loan waiver. The government had planned to raise debt worth Rs 54,000 crore in 2017-18 but only Rs 11,000 crore were raised which was meant for capital expenditure. It was a similar story in 2018-19 and will remain the same in 2019-20 too.

There is no dearth of funds. The government has successfully implemented planning, quality, speed (PQS) formula for the effective and timely use of funds.

State GSDP yet to achieve a double-digit growth despite announcements. Is it achievable?

State GSDP growth of 7.3% is high compared to India's GDP growth. The government is committed to achieving double-digit growth. However, growth is impacted due to internal and external factors. Successive drought and inadequate rainfall have impacted agriculture growth which has affected the GSDP growth. However, other sectors have grown well. Maharashtra's economic growth is way ahead of other states.

How will you achieve the government's objective of $1 trillion economy by 2025?

The finance department will soon release a roadmap in this regard. This is achieved by running a movement on the lines of the freedom movement. Short courses will be introduced which will help create required skill sets. Besides, the government will promote MSME, small scale, rural, cottage and handicraft industries apart from boosting investments in infrastructure. It will be done through short, medium and long term measures.