Akhilesh balances populism with development in annual budget

UP Budget 2015-16 breaches Rs 3,02,000 crore

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (CM) Akhilesh Yadav tried to balance populism with allocations for development in the state government’s Budget for 2015-16, presented in the legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

The size was 10.2 per cent more, at Rs 3,02,687 crore, compared to the estimate for 2014-15. The CM also has charge of finance.

Apart from prestigeous projects such as the Lucknow Metro rail and the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the ruling Samajwadi Party government has also provisioned for schemes such as free laptops, pensions and Kanya Vidya Dhan.

For the infrastructure sectors of roads, bridges, irrigation and energy, the government has provided Rs 51,000 crore.

Addressing the media after introducing the Budget, the CM listed energy, agriculture, solar power, infrastructure, medical and agro marketing as priorities.

Receipts in 2015-16 are estimated at Rs 2,96,723 crore, of which Rs 2,49,880 crore are revenue receipts. These include Rs 1,78,644 crore as tax revenue, in which Rs 86,729 crore is shown as the state’s share in central taxes.

The expenditure of Rs 3,02,687 crore comprises Rs 2,15,756 crore and Rs 86,931 crore under the revenue and capital expenditure heads, respectively. A provision of Rs 1,06,720 crore is for plan expenditure.

A revenue surplus of Rs 34,124 crore has been estimated for 2015-16. The fiscal deficit is Rs 31,560 crore or 2.96 per cent of the gross state domestic product, estimated to touch Rs 10,65,888 crore during 2015-16.

After deducting total expenditure from receipts of consolidated funds, a deficit of Rs 5,964 core is estimated. Further, net receipts of about Rs 6,055 crore has been estimated from public account and net result of Rs 90 crore from all transaction is estimated in 2015-16.

The closing balance for 2015-16 is estimated around Rs 4,784 crore, in which opening balance of Rs 4,693 core has been taken into account.