KIIFB funded Kerala’s Rs5.4cr publicity campaign against Centre

Rs13cr went from ‘KIIFB’s pocket’ towards Keralyeeyam’s promotion

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Government seems to be pushing Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) to the edge by burdening it with expenses that should ideally be borne by the government itself.

Notes appeared as part of KIIFB’s 2023-24 (FY24) annual financial statements have reference to some expenses incurred on media campaign & advertisements being borne by KIIFB.

More importantly, while the huge expenses related to the last year’s ‘Keralayeem’ is kicking up political dust, it’s been revealed that about Rs13 crore has also been spent from ‘KIIFB’s pocket’ for the promotion of ‘Keralayeem’ too.

The KIIFB Note reads as follows – “Promotional and advertisement expenses include an amount of Rs12.96 crore incurred towards providing infrastructure facilities to “Keraleeyam” event as per a government order dated October 13, 2023.”

“The expenses were fully budgeted and authorised by the Media Management Group (MMG) of KIIFB,” the note further stated.

Campaign against Centre billed at Rs5.4 cr

Can anyone believe that Kerala Government has spent Rs5.38 crore to campaign against the Centre in the verbal battle over the much-debated borrowing limit of the state? 

Quite curiously, KIIFB, which has recently been running from pillar to post, for its own funding requirements, has been mandated to foot this Rs5.39 crore bill.

“Out of the promotional and advertisement expenses, an amount of Rs5.39 crore was incurred towards ‘nationwide media and publicity campaign’ of the Government of Kerala against the restriction on borrowing powers of the State imposed by the Central Government,” the note stated.

Interestingly, why KIIFB should spend for this media campaign against the Centre has also been clearly explained in the note

It has explained that KIIFB has been chosen to spend this “since it (restriction on borrowing powers) would gravely impact the operations of KIIFB, which is built up as a premier agency providing quality infrastructure for the people of Kerala.”

A little background

“There’s an ongoing stand-off between the Centre and the State of Kerala with regard to the extent of freedom a state should enjoy in terms of its borrowing limits,” admitted a source close to Kerala Finance Ministry, while interacting with businessbenchmark.news.

It’s a hard fact that Kerala is deeply mired in a financial deadlock whereby paying salary and pensions, even the Rs1,600 social security and welfare pension, has become a tall challenge before the Finance Department.

There have been mixed responses to the state’s decision to sue the Centre for disallowing it from borrowing to the extent it wanted.

Both the Centre and Kerala state hold divergent views on how much a state can borrow or whether the Centre should be allowed to dictate terms on a state’s borrowing limits in the first place.

The crucial question, to what extent the Centre can intervene in a state’s borrowings, has been referred to the Constitutional Bench in order to examine the Constitutional implications of this ‘too serious’ matter.