DMK has ruined State’s finances, says Anbumani Ramadoss

PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday said the DMK, which promised a “new dawn” doesn’t have credibility to speak about “financial administration”.

Citing a CAG report ‘Financial Health of States: Rising Public Debt in Ten Years’, in a statement, he said Tamil Nadu has significantly fallen behind first-placed Uttar Pradesh in a list of states with revenue surplus and was 27^th in the list. Tamil Nadu spends only ₹57,230.96 crore for capital expenditure despite borrowing ₹1,06,251 crore to finance revenue deficits and other expenses, when Uttar Pradesh spends three times more, ₹1,65,243 crore, for capital expenditure, he said.

“The report reviews the economic progress of each state between 2013–14 and 2022–23: how revenue deficit and fiscal deficit have evolved, and to what extent public debt has increased. The shocking revelation is that 11 states, including Tamil Nadu, spend most of their borrowed funds on salaries and subsidies instead of on creating infrastructure. In other words, the DMK government is borrowing money mainly to pay salaries to its employees,” he said.

Dr. Anbumani said, the ‘Golden Rule’ is that only capital expenditure should be financed through borrowings, and revenue expenditure should be covered through revenue receipts. “In India, 16 states have managed their revenue expenditure within their income and generated a revenue surplus. In 2022–23, Uttar Pradesh topped with a surplus of ₹37,000 crore. Gujarat (₹19,865 crore), Odisha (₹19,456 crore), Jharkhand (₹13,564 crore), Karnataka (₹13,496 crore), Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim also recorded a surplus. Meanwhile, 12 states are struggling with revenue deficits. Next to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu stands as the state with the highest revenue deficit – ₹36,215 crore in 2022–23,” he said.