Budget 2016: Jaitley to meet state finance ministers on Saturday

The minister advised the claims to interact for placing Asia about the high-growth velocity and stated reforms started from the Center within the recent times is likely to be taken forward in coming weeks.

“But resources of States have increased after the Fourteenth Finance Commission and we want States to use these for anti-poverty schemes”, he said after the two-hour long meeting.

He said most of the states shared that they were concentrating on the anti-poverty programmes, and particularly on the Agricultural Sector.

New Delhi: The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that the world economy is passing through a hard phase and is quite fragile.

The government is expected to find it hard to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 3.5% of GDP in 2016-17 due to implementation of the pay commission recommendations and OROP. “The States have discussed their own resources, and each of them is competing for higher resources, higher investment, and they are all geared up to fight this environment of global slowdown so that India remains an economy on the move”. “The resources of the states have increased considerably after the Fourteenth Finance Commission”, Jaitley said after the Pre-Budget meeting with state finance ministers on Saturday.

Jaitley said Central government would cooperate with each and every State and Union Territories and adequate importance will be given to them.

The states requested the finance minister to release more funds to compensate for the losses suffered on account of Central Sales Tax (CST) pending since 2012-13, in a pre-Budget meeting with Jaitley. There was also a suggestion to change the labour ratio in MNERGA such that it can be more productive and used for infrastructure building along with providing jobs.

The pay commission award will come into effect on January 1, but it is likley to be implemented after budget and employees will be paid arrears.

States today sought greater financial support from the Centre to fund centrally sponsored schemes, assistance to meet the additional financial burden of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations and urged it to raise the borrowing limit as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.

Orissa finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat said mineral rich states should be allowed to impose cess.