Drought major reason for Karnataka's growth slow down: CM    

Bengaluru: Drought was the major factor for the decline of growth rate of industry and service sectors in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday.

In his post-budget media briefing, he said the trend was not limited only to Karnataka, but also to the entire country.

The growth rate of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) had been brought down from 7.3 per cent during 2015-16 to 6.9 per cent during the closing fiscal 2016-17, he said.

“This is a trend in the entire country, it is not only in Karnataka. It is the same trend going on in the entire  country,” he said citing all-India figures for 2015-17.

Siddaramaiah said the industry sector was expected to grow at 2.2 per cent compared to 4.9 per cent during the previous year, while the service sector expected to register a growth of 8.5 per cent during the current year as compared to 10.4 per cent the previous year.

The agriculture sector is expected to grow by 1.5 per cent this year.

Siddaramaiah said the budget has a fiscal deficit of Rs 33,359 crore, 2.61 per cent of GSDP, as mandated by Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act.

With Rs 37,092 crore loan on governments head, the total liabilities of the state has increased to Rs 2,42,420 crore by the end of 2017-18, which is 18.93 per cent of the GSDP, well within the 25 per cent cut off mandated by the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, Siddaramaiah said.