The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) maiden report on ‘Finances of Panchayati Raj Institutions’ was released.
The PRIs need to intensify efforts to augment their own tax and non-tax revenue resources and improve governance.
Around 95% of the PRI revenues are in the form of grants from the Centre and states.
It is restricting their spending ability that is already hampered by delays in the constitution of State Finance Commissions.
The average revenue per Panchayat from all sources – taxes, non-taxes and grants – was Rs 2.12 million in 2020-21, Rs 2.32 million in 2021- 22 and Rs 2.12 million in 2022-23.
The decline in 2022-23 was owing to lesser devolution of grants.
The own revenues of the Panchayats were only 1.1% of their total revenue.
It is generated by imposing local taxes, fees, and charges on various activities, including land revenue, professional and trade taxes, and miscellaneous fees.
Non-tax revenue – primarily from Panchayati Raj programmes and interest earnings – is also modest, with a share of only 3.3% of their total revenue receipts.
Panchayats in Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana have reported higher non-tax revenue than other states.
The average expenditure per Panchayat was decreased from Rs 17.3 lakh in 2020-21 to Rs 12.5 lakh in 2022-23.
This was due to higher than-normal spending in the pandemic year 2020-21.
Goa, Karnataka, Odisha, Sikkim, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu recorded the highest average expenditure at the Panchayat level.
The ratio of revenue expenditure of Panchayats to nominal GSDP is less than 0.6 percent for all the States.
It was ranging from 0.001 percent in Bihar to 0.56 percent in Odisha.