PUNJAB

The financial burden on the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Pspcl) has increased with recent Punjab Government announcements of subsidised/free power ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls. The 2021-22 expenditure is estimated to reach around Rs 12,245 crore, up from Rs 10,621 crore.

However, in its tariff petition for the year 2022-23, the PSPCL has projected a gap of Rs 125 crore only, in view of the poll season, claim experts.

As per the annual revenue requirement (ARR) filed by the PSPCL, the gap of previous years amounts to Rs 1,611 crore thus making a total revenue gap of Rs 1,912 crore. The total ARR has been worked out Rs 36,484 crore and the revenue receipt on the basis of present approved tariff has been worked out as Rs 36,702 crore.

As the power regulator always reduces the expenditure proposed by the PSPCL, there may not be any hike in power rates, despite the government reducing the prices. As per the ARR, the major expenditure is for power purchase. The purchase has been estimated at Rs 24,910 crore, including interstate transmission charges.

The other major expenditure is of employees salary and pensions and this has been worked out at Rs 5,552 crore. However, in order to subdue the ARR in the election year, the PSPCL has not included any payments to employees against pay revisions. As per information, against pay revision, the total arrears will amount to about Rs 3,000-3,500 crore, of which around Rs 1,000 crore are payable in 2021-22 and balance in the coming years.

Janjua, chairing the third meeting of Apex Committee of State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM), reviewed the progress of ongoing Water supply and sanitation projects, and directed the concerned officials to ensure 100 percent coverage of rural households with Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) at the earliest.

He also directed the Rural Development and Water Supply and Sanitation Departments officials to submit a road map within a week for the achievement of targets under Swachh Bharat-Gramin.

During the meeting, it was apprised that the State has already covered 99.94 percent of households with piped water supply. All the remaining 2230 households in quality affected villages will be provided with potable water supply in 2022-23. The Department has already ensured 100 percent saturation of households in terms of piped water supply through FHTCs in 11,931 villages, 146 blocks, and 20 districts of the State besides ensuring Har Ghar Jal certification through special in 11,867 saturated villages, 133 blocks, and in 16 districts, he added.

Coming to the rescue of private educational institutions, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Chani-led Cabinet decided to remove the fee cap for different courses under the SC Post-matric Scholarship Scheme and bring it on par with general category students.

The decision would allow the private educational institutions to get fee reimbursement for the SC students on par with the general category students. Earlier, a fee hike by the Higher Education Department under the scholarship scheme for different self-financed courses had been halted by the Chief Ministers Office after it was found contradictory to the previous instructions on the capping of charges.

Increasing the fee under the self-financed courses means an extra financial burden on the state exchequer, as the charges of the SC students are reimbursed by the government. In the past, the private universities and Joint Association of Colleges had been quoting the fee structure of government and professional universities to seek the revision of fee for self-financed courses.

The Cabinet also deliberated on the hardships faced by SC students. It was highlighted that funding for the scholarship scheme was shared between the Centre and Punjab Government in the ratio of 60:40. However, the Centre stopped giving its share from 2016 onwards. Resultantly, the Cabinet decided that the would bear its liability of 40 per cent amounting to Rs 433.96 crore since 2017-18, to be released in two instalments during the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23.

With exodus of European, American and Japanese companies after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there are ample opportunities for the Indian firms to invest or increase their export exposure to Russia. According to the Indian Ambassador to Russia, Pavan Kapoor, Moscow seeks fresh partners to fill the void.

Unending sanctions of European and American nations forced multiple western companies to pull out their businesses from Russia. Many companies operating in diverse sectors closed their operations in Russia. Considering this pull-out, there is an opportunity for the Indian companies to fill the void left by western companies.

After exporting crude oil at a highly competitive price, Russia has now started to become the preferred destination for Indian companies. In 2021-22, India’s exports to Russia stood at $3.25 billion while imports were at $9.87 billion. While during the period April-August this year, the total bilateral trade was $18 billion. Out of the total, imports were $17 billion and exports from India were $1 billion. The huge is mainly on account of import of oil from Russia.

For Punjab-based companies, there are opportunities in Food Processing sector mainly fruit and vegetable concentrates, fruit additives, automobile and auto components, Cotton yarn, jute & textiles, packaging and hand tools etc.

The sectoral analysis of the GST receipts of the State suggest healthy Growth in sectors such as Iron and Steel, Automobiles, Insurance, Telecom, Transport, Banking and non-VAT petroleum products, said an official spokesperson of the Commissionerate.

The GST revenue, up to the month of September 2021, has witnessed a high growth of nearly 67.55 per cent as compared to corresponding period last year. Even, when compared to the pre-pandemic financial year of 2019-20, the growth during the first half of the current year is 54 per cent higher.

Besides, the Base Effect of the abnormal previous year, the said growth is attributed to strong anti-evasion activities of the department, better compliance by the taxpayers, effective data analysis based on machine Learning and intelligent on-road detention with special focus on taxpayers engaged in fake billing, added the spokesperson. The positive trend witnessed in the revenue so far is likely to continue in the coming months as well, said the spokesperson while adding that the fiscal year 2021-22 reflected a tremendous growth as compared to the same period last year, for VAT and CST revenue collection have displayed a growth of 41.09 per cent and 18.68 per cent this year.

The total revenue collection comprising GST, VAT and CST registered a growth of 29.47 percent with a collection of Rs 1,965.99 crore this September as against Rs 1,518.52 crore during the corresponding month of 2020-21.

Banwarilal Purohit, who asTamil Nadu governor, was recently given additional charge ofPunjabgovernor-cum-ChandigarhUT administrator, has been appointed as full time governor of Punjab.

In orders issues fromRashtrapati Bhawan night orders said Purohit was shifted fromTamil Naduto Punjab and Nagaland governor RN Raviwas appointed as new Nadu governor.

Launching an online billing and revenue monitoring system (RMS) for online payment of water supply bills in the villages of district SAS Nagar (Mohali), after successful completion of a pilot project for seven months, she said this online billing system would be introduced in all districts of Punjab soon. Rural consumers would get their water supply bills through SMS on their registered mobile numbers and online bill payment option will be provided through a link in the SMS.

This new initiative will not only make water supply bill payments easy for rural consumers but also will boost revenue collection of the department thereby helping in efficient management of water supply schemes and ensuring uninterrupted supply of potable water to rural consumers.