Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari Presents Odisha Budget for 2023-24 FY in State Assembly
By B.Maharana
Bhubaneswar, February 24
Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari Friday presented budget for the financial year 2023-24 amounting to Rs 2.30 lakh crore, which is 15 % higher than financial year 2022-23.
He also presented a digital copy of Budget 2023- 24 to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik .
Presentging the budget in the state assembly, Pujari said that the focus of the budget is to achieve rapid and inclusive growth through the development of human resources and capital assets for long-term economic growth.
“We have proposed to increase our Programme Expenditure by 25% to Rs.1,25,000 crore in 2023-24. This amounts to a phenomenal and unprecedented increase of 67% in Programme Expenditure over a period of just two years,” said Pujari.
He said that State Government always accords the highest priority to the aspirations of the people of Odisha through a vision to build a “New Odisha – Empowered Odisha”.
Pujari said ,” the focus of the State Government has been to improve service delivery and quality infrastructure development to transform the economy of the State. Due to favourable economic conditions, the Economy of Odisha has grown at a higher rate than the national economy during the current financial year 2022-23”.
In FY 2023-24, a major chunk of the State Government’s total resources is estimated to be generated through the State’s own tax and own non-tax revenue. Rs 53,000 crore is projected to come from its own tax revenue and Rs 52,500 crore from its own non-tax revenue.
The state’s own revenue is estimated to contribute 46 % of the total resource. Apart from this, the State’s share in Central tax, grants from the Centre, and capital receipts together contribute 54%.
As far as public spending is concerned, State Government has allocated the highest share towards programme expenditure of ₹125,000 crore, which is an increase of 25% over FY 2022-23. The second largest spending item is Establishment, Operation and Maintenance related expenditure.
Pujari said that government has earmarked 35 of the total budget for social sector development. While 38,437 crore has been provided for Scs and STs development , Rs.24,829 crore has been provided for agriculture and allied sector.
Allocation For Important Sectors in the 2023-24 Budget
Rs 16,048 crore for Health sector (27% increase)
Rs 30,030 crore for Education and Skills (10% increase)
Rs 38,437 crore for SCs and STs development (18% increase)
Rs 13,215 crore for Piped Water (58% increase)
Rs 24,829 crore for Agriculture & allied sector (21% increase)
Rs 680 crore for Tourism (15% increase)
Rs 19,452 crore for Roads, Bridges, Airports and Railways (34% increase)
Rs 1,217 crore for development of Sports (34% increase)
Rs 7,914 crore for Urban Development (9% increase)
Rs 356 crore for E & IT (18% increase)
Rs 6,224 crore for Mission Shakti, W&CD (12% increase)
Rs 219 crore for Handloom, Textiles & Handicrafts sector (8% increase)
Rs 1358 crore for Industries and MSME (7% increase)
Rs 8,130 crore for Internal security and justice (8% increase)
Rs 3,700 crore for Disaster Risk Management (13% increase)
Rs 7300 crore for transfer to Local Bodies
Reacting to the 2023-24 FY budget Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has termed the state Budget as the peoples’ budget and said that it will take Odisha to new heights.
In his reactions, CM Naveen Patnaik said, “This Budget is peoples’ Budget – it’s of the people, by the people and for the people”.
“It will take Odisha to new heights”, the Odisha CM added.
The Chief Minister has lauded the various provisions made in the Budget for the financial year 2023-24.