Budget proposes Rs 1512 crores additional resource mobilization

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K M Mani Monday proposed additional resources mobilisation to the tune of Rs 1,512 crore, mainly through a one per cent hike in Value Added Tax rates, in the Budget for 2012-13 that triggered an Opposition protest against raising retirement age of government employees to 56 years from the existing 55.


Presenting his tenth Budget in the state Assembly, Mani also announced various welfare schemes and development projects worth an additional expense of Rs 1,118 crore in the Rs 210 crore deficit budget. The Minister said a sum of Rs 1,000 crore would be mobilised through a hike in the VAT rates from four per cent and 12.5 per cent to five per cent and 13.5 per cent respectively. However, in order to minimise its impact on common man, VAT rates of several essential commodities have been brought down to one per cent from the present four per cent.