Economic times reports that Orissa is among the fiscally best performing states this year. It is 3rd in the list following Haryana and Delhi. Excerpts:

“When it comes to financial health Haryana, Delhi, Orissa are the best performing states in the country, while Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala need to cut both fiscal and revenue deficits, an Assocham study has shown.

Haryana had the minimum fiscal deficit of 0.6 per cent in financial year 2006-07, though marginally up from 0.3 per cent in the previous year. Delhi was at the second spot with 0.7 per cent fiscal deficit while its revenue account showed a surplus of 3.57 per cent.

Though Orissa recorded the fiscal deficit of 1.1 per cent in FY’07, higher than 0.4 per cent in FY’06, it managed to remain well under the three per cent figure as recommended by the 12th Finance Commission. Its revenue surplus has increased from 0.76 per cent to 0.9 per cent during the same period.

Gujarat (2.5 per cent), Chhattisgarh (2.6 per cent), Tamil Nadu (2.7 per cent) and Karnataka (2.8 per cent) are the other states which have been able to keep their expenditures in the financial year 2006-07 in line with the target of 3 per cent fiscal deficit. “