The increase in the State’s own revenue by over 60% in three years helped Kerala withstand the unsympathetic financial policies of the Union government, Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal has said.
In a Facebook post in connection with Pinarayi Vijayan government’s third anniversaryon Monday, Mr. Balagopal said Kerala was able to increase its own revenue from ₹47,000 crore in 2020-2021 to ₹77,000 crore in 2023-24.
The State succeeded in creating this “record increase” in its own revenue in spite of the fiscal squeeze on the Centre’s part. If this increase had not taken place, the anti-State policies of the Centre would have wrecked Kerala’s finances, he said.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had referred a suit filed by the State government, challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government’s decision curtailing its borrowing ceilings, to a Constitution Bench.
In January, inaugurating a panel discussion on the ‘state of State finances’ ahead of the 2024-25 State Budget, Mr. Balagopal had observed that while 62.7% of the country’s gross revenue flows to the Union government, 62.4% of the total expenditure is met by the States. If Kerala had not succeeded in enhancing its own revenue collection ₹71,000 crore (at the time), it would have faced a really difficult time financially, given the huge dip in Central transfers, the Minister had noted.
