Interest payments on debt are among the key disbursements from the revenue account of the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). However, productive expenditures from the CFI’s revenue account have either reduced or have been witnessing less than budgeted spending. For police reforms, ₹9,268 crore was budgeted, but has been reduced to ₹4,926 crore in the revised estimates. In almost all these areas, the budgeted expenditure for 2021-22 is closer to the amount budgeted in the current and previous years. In other words, our ability to raise debt should not be an excuse for continuing with sub-optimal tax administration.

Source: Mint February 11, 2021 16:15 UTC