E-Paper
Welfare, infra, trillion-dollar economy likely to be top U.P. budget goals today
As the budget is being presented weeks ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections, minister for finance Suresh Khanna will have to strike a balance between making allocations for infrastructure development and announcing some welfare measures for the youths, women and farmers.
The Yogi 2.0 government will on Monday present its third annual budget (for 2024-25) amid the challenges of giving a further push to Uttar Pradesh’s development and taking the state’s GSDP (Gross State Domestric Product) to a trillion dollars in the coming years.
As the budget is being presented weeks ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections, minister for finance Suresh Khanna will have to strike a balance between making allocations for infrastructure development and announcing some welfare measures for the youths, women and farmers.
“Besides bringing all-round development of the state, the annual budget will be committed to development of infrastructure and bringing the poor, the deprived, youths, women and farmers into the mainstream of development,” Khanna said in a press statement here after giving final touches to the annual budget.
There are indications that the state government may announce an increase in the allocation of funds for various welfare schemes like an increase in ‘Divyang’ and old age pension, besides providing additional funds for various ongoing development projects.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has already set a target of making the state a trillion-dollar economy by 2027-28. The Uttar Pradesh’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has grown from ₹12.47 lakh crore in 2016-17 to ₹20.48 lakh crore in 2022-23. This indicates that the state’s GSDP needs to be nearly quadrupled to become a trillion-dollar economy. Much will depend on the state’s results on the GSDP front in 2023-2024 and projections for 2024-2025 that may be given in the annual budget.
Khanna said the state’s budget is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve of making India a developed country by 2047. He said the state’s budget will turn out to be a strong pillar in making the state a trillion-dollar economy under Yogi’s leadership. He also called the annual budget a document of the state moving ahead on the path of development on all the parameters along with reestablishing ancient cultural pride in the state.
The state government had on February 22, 2023, presented Yogi 2.0 government’s second annual budget (for 2023-24) for a size of ₹6.90 lakh crore ( ₹6,90,242.43 crore). The state government also presented its first supplementary budget for ₹28,760.67 crore (2023-24) in the state assembly on November 29, 2023. If the prevailing financial scenario is considered, the size of the annual budget for 2024-25 may go up from nearly ₹7.20 lakh crore to ₹7.50 lakh crore.
Khanna also referred to the provisions made in the interim Union budget for 2024-25 and said the state would get maximum benefits from various central government schemes. Hed said the state would get ₹2.18 lakh crore as its share from the central taxes in 2024-25. The state’s share in central taxes is expected to go up by ₹15,000 crore in 2023-24 as well.
