Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) The Maharashtra Finance Department late on Monday evening issued a comprehensive administrative circular laying down a rigorous schedule and guidelines for compiling the Budget Estimates for 2027–28 and the Revised Estimates for 2026–27.
The circular emphasises strict adherence to timeframes, integration of digital portals such as BEAMS (Budget Estimation, Allocation & Monitoring System) and Maharashtra Plan Schemes Information Management System (MP-SIMS) and alignment with long-term strategic frameworks like the Viksit Maharashtra 2030 Action Plan.
The Finance Department has cautioned that failure to comply with the stipulated timelines and digital documentation requirements will result in the exclusion of defaulting departmental estimates from the official state budget publications.
The circular comes when the government is struggling to cope up with the state financial situation amid rising debt, soaring administrative expenses and constraints on restricting the revenue and fiscal deficits of within the stipulated limits mandated under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
The annual budget for 2026-27 has a estimated the public debt to soar to Rs 11.02 lakh crore, revenue deficit of 0.7 per cent of GSDP (Rs 40,552 crore) and fiscal deficit at 2.8 per cent of GSDP (Rs 1,50,491 crore) and cost of servicing debt is estimated to reach Rs 70,055 crore.
To prevent administrative bottlenecks and ensure seamless compilation before presentation to the Legislature, the Finance Department has set strict staggered deadlines for administrative departments and controlling officers.
The department has set a deadline of October 16, 2026 for the submission of revenue/capital receipts, mandatory expenditure estimates for 2027–28, and the first 4 months’ actuals-based revised estimates for 2026–27 by controlling officers to administrative departments, October 30, 2026 for final submission of these estimates by administrative departments to the Finance Department, December 4, 2026 for submission of Part-I and Part-II new items for mandatory expenditure along with district-wise details, January 2027 (2nd Week) for program under expenditure proposals and new items (Forms E, F, and G) and January 29, 2027 for submission of 9-month actuals-based revised estimates and consolidated statements.
The state government has mandated that all budget data must be processed electronically through designated platforms to eliminate redundancy.
“All controlling officers and drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) must feed mandatory and program estimates directly via the e-Budget estimation module on the BEAMS live mode, followed by physical submission of system-generated prints to the Finance Department. All Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and state schemes must update their scheme profiles, including Unique Scheme Codes and Central/State sharing ratios, via the MP-SIMS portal and comply with the System for Integrated Quick Transfers (SNA SPARSH) fund flow mechanism,” said the government circular.
Aligning with the broader vision of transforming Maharashtra into a $1 trillion economy by 2030 and a $5 trillion economy by 2047, the circular mandates that all regular budget demands and resource allocations for the financial years 2027–28 through 2029–30 strictly conform to the framework of the Viksit Maharashtra Action Plan 2030.
The Finance Department reiterated that incurring expenditure in excess of approved grants constitutes a budget irregularity. Controlling officers will face strict disciplinary action, adverse confidential reports (CRs), or withholding of increments for unauthorized overspending.
According to the circular, departments have been instructed to book all expenses related to outsourced and contractual personnel strictly under the dedicated object head “10 – Outsourced/Contractual Services”, as mandated by previous administrative guidelines. Administrative departments must submit required expenditure breakdowns for women, girls, children, and transgender groups to the Outcome Budget Branch by January 2027.
–IANS
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