Audit Reports
Gujarat
Report No.2 of 2019 - State Finances, Government of Gujarat
Overview
This Report provides an analytical review of the finances of the State Government based on the Annual Accounts for the year 2017-18. The Report is structured in three Chapters.
Contents:
Chapter I is based on the Finance Accounts and makes an assessment of the Government’s fiscal position as on 31 March 2018. It provides an insight into trends of different components of the Government’s receipts, expenditure and borrowing pattern, besides giving a brief account of fiscal imbalances.
Chapter II is based on the Appropriation Accounts and gives a grant-wise description of appropriations and the manner in which the allocated resources were managed by the service delivery Departments. Observations on the audit of administrative department/ controlling officers relating to Grant No 49 (Industries) and Grant No. 71 (Rural Housing and Rural Development) are included.
Chapter III is an inventory of the Government’s compliance with various reporting requirements and financial rules alongwith additional data collated from several other sources in support of the findings.
Important Observations:
At the end of 2017-18, the fiscal deficit as percentage to GSDP stood at 1.62 per cent, which was within the limit of three per cent recommended by 14th FC and that of the Government’s own projections of 1.82 per cent in MTFPS.
The State Government maintained the percentage of public debt to GSDP at 16.10 during 2017-18, against the target of 16.83 per cent set in MTFPS. In the fiscal consolidation roadmap, the 14th FC had recommended the percentage of outstanding liabilities to GSDP at 25.83 for 2017-18, against which, the actual outstanding liabilities stood at 19.42 per cent.
The investment held in ‘Cash Balance Investment Account’ by the State Government stood at Rs 12,750 crore, at the end of 2016-17 and came down to Rs 5,198 crore at the end of 2017-18, indicating better utilisation of cash balances.
During 2017-18, against total budget provisions of Rs 1,82,971.32 crore, actual expenditure was Rs 1,61,063.09 crore.
Net savings of Rs 21,908.23 crore were the result of savings of Rs 22,242.23 crore in 91 grants and 18 appropriations under the revenue section and 53 grants and 8 appropriations under the capital section, offset by an excess of Rs 334 crore in one grant and one appropriation under the revenue section and one grant under the capital section