Economists' panel to suggest ways for boosting govt revenue: Karnataka CM

New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Saturday that an expert committee comprising economists will be formed to suggest measures to the government to improve revenue mobilisation. 

The CM, who is in the national capital to meet union ministers, told reporters that the panel would be asked to suggest new ways to increase revenue and reduce wasteful expenditure.

Admitting that generating additional revenue was a challenge to the government, the CM said that it was spending Rs 52,000 crore of its Rs 3.46 lakh crore annual budget to implement guarantee schemes.

The government has already engaged Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to devise ways to improve revenue.

Insisting that there was no plan to discontinue the guarantee schemes, the CM said July 1 would mark one year of the launch of the first guarantee.

“The government want to study the performance of the guarantee schemes and the benefits that the poor are getting from them,” Siddaramaiah said.  

The guarantee schemes were one of the reasons for improvement in GST collections from the state, the CM said.  

‘No Cabinet rejig’ 

“Though there is one vacancy in the Cabinet, following the resignation of B Nagendra, there is no plan to fill it up as of now. The scheduled tribes’ welfare portfolio, which Nagendra was handling, is with me,” the CM said. 

“There is no proposal before me to analyse the performance of the ministers,” he said, adding that all of them were performing well.

Siddaramaiah, who met Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, said he did not discuss state politics during these meetings.