CHANDIGARH: The grants-in-aid to the Punjab Government from the Union Government has declined by half between the first quarter of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period last year.The revenue deficit grant which the 15th Finance Commission supposed to provide, was not received by the State, resulting a gap in revenue receipts. Sources said that as per the fiscal indicators of the first quarter of this fiscal, the State government received Rs 793.74 crore as grants-in-aid. Last year, in the same period, it got Rs 1,471.99 crore marking a decline of Rs 678.25 crore. A total of Rs 25,968 crore grant from 2021 to 2026 was given by the Commission. In the first two years, the State got maximum grants in 2021-22 of Rs 10,081 crore, Rs 8,274 crore in 2022-23. In 2023-24, it got Rs 5,618 crore, and in 2024-25, the State received Rs 1,995 crore and this year, nothing.It has impacted the total revenue receipts of the state government, which, though higher than the first quarter of 2024-25, is lower than the targeted receipts. Between April to June this year, the revenue receipts were Rs 22,938.23 crore, which is just 20.04 per cent of the total targeted revenue of Rs 1,11,740.32 crore for the entire financial year. Always, the revenue collection is higher in the first quarter of the year, said sources.
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