Uttar Pradesh govt utilised 81% of 2025-26 budget, says Suresh Khanna
₹2.23 lakh crore collected by Uttar Pradesh government in 2025-26; GST remains top tax revenue earner, followed by excise and VAT
The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday claimed to have used 81% of the budgetary funds earmarked in the 2025-26 annual budget. The government also said its total revenue collections increased by about ₹10,228.10 crore, going up from ₹212,832.08 crore in 2024-25 to ₹2,23,060 crore in 2025-26.

“We have used nearly 81% of the state’s original budget for 2025-2026,” minister for finance Suresh Khanna said when asked about the state government’s use of funds in 2025-26.Khanna said the state government used about ₹6.51 lakh crore of the original annual budget, which was about ₹8.08 lakh crore in 2025-2026. He said details of funds spent out of the supplementary budget of ₹24,496.98 crore were still awaited. Those aware of the development said the final figures for the use of total budgetary funds may be around 78.20%.
He said the state government has asked all the departments to work out their action plans for 2026-27 at the earliest to expedite development in the state.
Khanna said the state government’s total revenue realisation of ₹2,23,060.18 crore in 2025-26 was 75.1% of the target set for the same period. He said these collections included tax revenue of ₹2,18,639.14 crore, about 75.2% of the target for the same period. The state government’s total revenue realisation against the annual target was 79.1% in 2024-25.
A scrutiny of the state government’s earnings in 2025-26 shows that GST remained the highest earner with collections of ₹82,547.40 crore, even after Next Gen GST reforms. However, the increase in GST collections was only marginal, as the state government had collected GST of ₹82,535.14 crore in 2024-2025. Excise, which earned ₹57,722 crore, was the second highest tax revenue earner for the state government.
The state government’s revenue collections in March 2026 were about ₹1020.53 higher than the collections made in the same month in 2025. Khanna said the state government collected ₹26,193.56 crore in March 2026 against ₹25,173.03 collected in March 2025. He said barring VAT and excise, tax collections in March 2026 were up under every other head.
He said the state government collected excise revenue of ₹9269.44 crore in March 2026, compared to ₹9,744.50 crore collected under the same head in March 2025, showing a decline of ₹475.06 crore.
He said similarly the state government collected VAT of
₹4438.82 crore in March 2026 against earnings of
₹4472.70 crore in the same month in 2025, showing a decline of ₹33.88 crore.
ABOUT THE AUTHORUmesh RaghuvanshiUmesh Raghuvanshi is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of demonstrated experience in the profession. He is the author of Ayodhya: The Gods Are Liberated. He is skilled in storytelling and newswriting, and writes on politics, governance, legislature, finance, environment, and social issues. He is based in Lucknow, is well-travelled, and has covered several national and international events, as well as all assembly and parliament elections in Uttar Pradesh since 1984. He has been a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Metcalf Fellow at the Metcalf Institute of Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island, USA. He is a science graduate from DBS College, Dehradun, and holds an MA in Political Science from DAV (PG) College, Dehradun. He won the KC Kulish International Merit Award for excellence in journalism (2015) and received it in New Delhi in 2017. He also won a competition organised by the United Nations Environment Programme DTIE OzonAction Programme in 2009 that assessed coverage of the interlinkages between ozone and climate change. He was awarded in Beijing, China, in 2010. He started his career with a Dehradun-based English daily in the early 1980s and later worked with The Pioneer too.Read More

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