E-Paper
UP govt likely to present budget after GIS-2023
The UP government has already indicated that the size of the annual budget may go up further and cross ₹7 lakh crore in 2023-2024
LUCKNOW Amid efforts to attract more investments ahead of the Global Investors Summit-2023, Uttar Pradesh government has stepped up preparations to present its annual budget (2023-2024) in the state legislature in the weeks to come.
“We have begun preparations for the annual budget for 2023-2024. The state government is likely to present it after the GIS-2023, scheduled in Lucknow, from February 10 to 12,” said finance minister Suresh Khanna.
“The finance department is holding regular meetings with various departments to prepare the budget,” he added.
The UP government had already indicated that the size of the annual budget may go up further and may cross ₹7 lakh crore in 2023-2024. It had presented an annual budget of ₹6.15 lakh crore for 2022-23. A supplementary budget for ₹33,769.55 crore (2022-2023) was presented in December 2022, taking the total size of the budget to ₹6.50 lakh crore.
About the focus areas of the annual budget, Khanna said the state government would emphasise on infrastructure development and creation of jobs for youths. “The UP government is spending about 21-22% of the annual budget on the development of infrastructure. The state government’s focus on attracting investment is showing good results. We will continue efforts to bring about more investment to UP,” he added.
As 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be due early next year, the state government may use the opportunity to work out schemes to woo different sections of society. “The UP government will surely spend more funds on education, health, power, urban and rural development sectors. We had increased allocations on education and health sectors in 2022-2023 as well,” said Khanna.
It may be mentioned that mobilisation of resources for various development projects remains a major challenge before the state government. UP government’s expenditure on payment of salaries and pension etc. continues to go up. Budgetary estimates had projected UP’s GSDP growth to ₹21,73,390 crore by March 31, 2022. The state government’s revised estimates indicated that the projected GSDP would remain at about ₹17,49,469 crore only. But the budget estimates for 2022-2023 now projected the GSDP to reach ₹20,48,234 crore by March 31.
