Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among the top-performing states in India, securing a robust revenue surplus of Rs 19,456 crore in the fiscal year 2023
It has been placed third among the 16 revenue-surplus states, according to a first-of-its-kind decadal study on state finances by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The report, titled State Finances 2022-23, highlighted that Odisha, alongside states like Uttar Pradesh (Rs 37,263 crore) and Gujarat (Rs 19,865 crore), exceeded revenue expenditure with strong revenue receipts.
The other states in the top-16 are Jharkhand (Rs 13,564 crore), Karnataka (Rs 13,496 crore), Chhattisgarh (Rs 8,592 crore), Telangana (Rs 5,944 crore), Uttarakhand (Rs 5,310 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 4,091 crore), and Goa (Rs 2,399 crore). The northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim also featured among surplus states.
The XV Finance Commission had mandated states to achieve zero-revenue deficit or surplus status for the fiscal year, a target Odisha successfully met, underscoring the state’s fiscal discipline and effective financial management during the period.
Andhra posts biggest deficit
The report, released by CAG Sanjay Murthy on Friday, mentioned that 12 states faced a revenue deficit in 2022-23. These include Andhra Pradesh (-Rs 43,488 crore), Tamil Nadu (-Rs 36,215 crore), Rajasthan (-Rs 31,491 crore), West Bengal (-Rs 27,295 crore), Punjab (-Rs 26,045 crore), Haryana (-Rs 17,212 crore), Assam (-Rs 12,072 crore), Bihar (-Rs 11,288 crore), Himachal Pradesh (-Rs 6,336 crore), Kerala (-Rs 9,226 crore), Maharashtra (-Rs 1,936 crore), and Meghalaya (-Rs 44 crore).
The combined revenue deficit of these 12 states, whose revenue expenditure exceeded their respective revenue receipts, was Rs 2,22,648 crore. Finance Commission grant for bridging revenue deficits of states in 2022-23 was Rs 86,201 crore, which was 39 per cent of the aggregate revenue deficit.
It further stated that West Bengal, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab have increasingly relied on revenue deficit grants from the Centre. “West Bengal received the largest share of 16% grants in FY 2023 to bridge the gap between its revenue receipts and expenditure, followed by Kerala 15%, Andhra Pradesh 12%, Himachal Pradesh 11%, and Punjab 10%.”