Kerala govt defers contractors' bill to next fiscal year, state budget likely on Feb 2

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government will postpone the settlement of outstanding dues to contractors, among others, to the next fiscal year citing the ongoing financial crisis. The state exchequer is under severe strain and already hindered multiple developmental projects. 
The policymakers are gearing up for a proactive approach to come out of the red by increasing revenue earnings in the upcoming fiscal.

The state, in the current fiscal, was allotted Rs 1,800 crore from the union government along with an additional borrower limit of Rs 4,400 crore for the implementation of the energy sector reformations. However, as per the recent conditions put forward by the Centre, Kerala has to bear the Rs 767 crore loss incurred by its electricity board (KSEB). This has limited the state's borrowing capacity to Rs 5,400 crore.

As the Kerala School Kalolsavam wrapped up on Monday, Finance Minister KN Balagopal, who was also the organising committee chairman of the festival, will dedicate his whole time to budget preparation. The state budget plan for the next financial year is expected to be presented by the minister on February 2.

The Cabinet meeting, scheduled tomorrow, will decide on seeking the Governor’s nod for starting the budget session on January 25. Boosting of revenue earnings will be the major agenda of the budget this time.

Though the Government has set up a 14-member expert committee for budget planning, the panel is yet to meet following the opposition and confusion over the selected persons.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the planning board, presided by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, scheduled today will finalize the annual outlay for the next fiscal (2024-25), expected to be worth Rs 37,000 crore. The same was Rs 38, 629 crore last year. The Government foresees another crisis-packed financial situation in the coming financial year, and hence the focus will be on increasing revenue earnings, sources said.

20 projects by each MLA
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has written to all MLAs asking them to provide a list of 20 projects each that they want to implement in their respective constituencies. However, it is specifically mentioned not to include those proposed to be funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The KIIFB will now focus on completing the existing ones. Minor projects will be excluded from the scope of KIIFB, which will be entrusted with fund mobilization of only major projects.