Puducherry: CAG report says capital expenditure rose in 2019-20

Puducherry saw a revenue deficit of Rs 55 crore in 2019-2020 while the capital expenditure went up from Rs 327 crore, according to the Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General CAG of India relating to the Union Territory.

Puducherry saw a revenue deficit of Rs 55 crore in 2019-2020 while the capital expenditure went up from Rs 327 crore, according to the Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India relating to the Union Territory. Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy tabled in the House on Thursday copies of the CAG audit reports. On budgetary management, it said as against the total provision of Rs 8,888.26 crore, an expenditure of Rs 7,939.74 crore was incurred resulting in savings of Rs 948.52 crore.

The Finances Audit Report for the year ended March 31, 2020 said the revenue receipts during 2019-2020 was Rs 6,781 crore and the revenue expenditure was Rs 6,836 crore which resulted in revenue deficit of Rs 55 crore as against revenue surplus during 2018-2019.

The report said the capital expenditure increased from Rs 316 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 327 crore in 2019-2020. It stated that the fiscal deficit increased from Rs 302 crore in 2018-2019 to Rs 381 crore in 2019-2020.

On the finances, the report said the revenue receipts increased by Rs 381 crore (5.95 per cent) in 2019-2020 over the previous year. The arrear of the revenue as on March 31, 2020 was Rs 1,101.41 crore, of which Rs 517.44 crore was outstanding for more than five years.

According to the report, the grant-in-aid received from the Central government was Rs 2,668 crore in 2019-2020 which constituted 26.63 per cent of the revenue receipts excluding GST compensation of Rs 862 crore.

Total expenditure increased from Rs 6,703 crore in 2018-2019 to Rs 7,163 crore (6.86 per cent) in 2019-2020. Revenue expenditure during 2019-2020 increased by Rs 449 crore (7.03 per cent) over the previous year. The report said the revenue expenditure constituted 95.43 per cent of the total expenditure.

The committed expenditure constituted 59.21 per cent of the revenue expenditure and 59.70 per cent of the revenue receipts during 2019-2020.

It noted that the capital expenditure was on a decreasing trend and the expenditure incurred during 2019-2020 was Rs 327 crore which constituted only 4.57 per cent of the total expenditure.

An amount of Rs 151.53 crore was blocked in 74 incomplete projects by PWD and Electricity Departments, it said.

The report said the outstanding debt (including Public Account liabilities) increased from Rs 7,754 crore in 2015-2016 to Rs 9,449 crore in 2019-2020. Out of the total debt receipt of Rs 1,043 crore during 2019-2020, an amount of Rs 762 crore (73.06 per cent) was utilised for repayment of debt leaving a balance of Rs 281 crore available for capital spending.

The maturity profile of public debt indicated that nearly 72.51 per cent of the total public debt was repayable within the next seven years, the report said.

The audit report stated that there were 317 cases of misappropriation, losses and thefts up to March 2020 involving government money of Rs 27.88 crore in various departments.

The report said that as on March 31, 2020 there were 13 government companies and the total investment (equity and long term loans) in public sector undertakings was Rs 728.36 crore. The return in the form of dividend on the aggregate investment of Rs 712.39 crore in the public sector undertakings was a meagre 0.16 per cent, the report said.

It said the six public sector undertakings earned a profit of Rs 28.05 crore and six undertakings incurred a loss of Rs 52.37 crore leading to overall loss of Rs 24.32 crore. Accounts of all the 12 government companies were in arrears and these companies submitted their 15 arrear accounts during 2020-2021.

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