Haryana Finance Minister, Abhimanyu Sindhu’s challenges were deciding on the appropriate trade-offs among giving impetus to good quality high growth; signaling to stakeholders on Haryana’s determination for fiscal prudence; addressing dysfunctional situation of power distribution companies; coping with the aftermath of recent disturbances in the State and creation of productive livelihoods.
The Budget exhibits competence and sound judgment of the Finance Minister and his team in balancing the goals and the resources.
The GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) growth in 2015-16 is at 11.5 percent and real GSDP growth at 8.2 percent, higher than the national average. Similar growth rate of 11.6 percent is estimated for 2016-17, projecting State’s nominal GSDP to be Rs 5,877 billion.
Mukul G. Asher is a Professorial Fellow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. This article was first published in Swarajya on 13 April 2016.