The Bihar government spent ₹70,000 crore but failed to provide utilization certificates. The CAG report reveals financial irregularities, raising questions about the government's accountability.
Bihar CAG Report: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Bihar government's budget management has raised several serious questions. According to the report, the state government has failed to submit utilization certificates for an amount of ₹70877.61 crore. This means that the government lacks clear evidence of how such a large sum was spent, or under what scheme or purpose. These figures reflect the situation as of March 31, 2024.
Good Growth Rate but Short of Targets
The report also states that Bihar's growth rate in the year 2023-24 was 14.47 percent, which is higher than the national average. This rate was 15.30 percent in the previous financial year 2022-23. Although the decline is marginal, the concern is that the state has failed to meet the financial targets set by the 15th Finance Commission.
Liabilities Constantly Increasing
The state's total liabilities have also increased rapidly. In the year 2023-24, Bihar's total liability reached ₹398560.98 crore, which is 12.34 percent more than the previous year. Although this increase is within the prescribed limit, it can also be considered a warning bell for the state's financial stability.
Major Role of the Tertiary Sector
The tertiary sector contributed the most to the state's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at 57.06 percent. This sector includes education, health, banking, transport and administrative services. This is followed by the primary sector with a contribution of 24.23 percent and the secondary sector with a contribution of 18.16 percent. The primary sector includes activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, fisheries and mining.
Improvement in Revenue but Slack in Expenditure
The state government's revenue receipts recorded an increase of 11.96 percent in 2023-24. There has been an increase of ₹20659 crore in total revenue. Apart from the tax share received from the central government, the state's own tax revenue and non-tax revenue have increased by 9.87 percent and 25.14 percent respectively.
On the expenditure front, the Bihar government could only spend ₹260718.07 crore out of the total budget of ₹326230.12 crore, which is only 79.92 percent of the total budget. This means that an amount of approximately ₹65512.05 crore was saved, but the government surrendered only ₹23875.55 crore out of this. This is only 36.44 percent of the total savings.
