Assam tables Rs 2.9 lakh crore budget for 2024-2025; no new tax imposed

Presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog, with an opening deficit of Rs 2,369.41 crore, the total Budget deficit worth Rs 774.47 crore is expected at the end of the financial year 2024-25.

Also, the state government did not impose any burden of additional tax on the people of Assam.

This was her fourth Budget under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma which was formed in 2021.

"This year our focus is to have a realistic Budget - the Budget that fulfils real aspirations of citizens of this State on one hand and avoids inflated figures on the other. Our efforts would be to have full utilization of Budgetary allocation by all the Departments," she said.

"Another feature of a realistic Budget would be laying more emphasis on enhancing own source revenue in coming years, through a slew of reforms," she added.

Neog said a total expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the State in 2024-25 is estimated at Rs 143,890.62 crore of which Rs 110,091.86 crore is on the Revenue Account and Rs 33,798.76 crore is on the Capital Account.

Reiterating the chief minister's aim to make Assam one of the top five states in the country, she said her government will continue our journey of development to ensure every single citizen of Assam has access to government development schemes.

As per a projected estimate, the state GDP at current prices for the year 2024-25 is expected to touch Rs 6.43 lakh crore. This is more than a 150 per cent increase over the GSDP of Rs 2.54 lakh crore for the year 2016-17 when the BJP got power in the state.

In her Budget speech, she made in the Assembly, she informed the House that the contribution of the State's economy to the national economy has also been increasing.

"At current prices, the contribution of GSDP of Assam has recorded a rise from 1.65 per cent in the financial year 2016-17 to 1.81 per cent in the financial year 2022- 23 (QE). At constant (2011-12) prices also, the State's contribution to national GDP has increased from 1.64 per cent to 1.87 per cent during the same period," she said.

Similarly, the State is fast catching up in its per capita income and it has almost more than doubled within the last 7 years by 2023-24.

The per capita income of the State at current prices for the FY 2022-23 is Rs. 1,20,336, as compared to Rs. 66,330 in 2016-17. This is estimated to reach Rs.1,35,787 in 2023-24, she said. (ANI)