Odisha Annual Budget to be presented in Assembly today

Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari will present the annual budget for FY 2023-24 at 4 pm on Friday.  This will be the last full-fledged budget in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s fifth term.

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Feb 24, 2023 - 18:27
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Odisha Annual Budget to be presented in Assembly today
Niranjan Pujari

Bhubaneswar: Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari will present the annual budget for FY 2023-24 at 4 pm on Friday.  This will be the last full-fledged budget in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s fifth term.

Earlier this month, the council of ministers approved the annual budget of Rs 2.3 lakh crore for 2023-24, the highest ever in Odisha and an increase of about 15 per cent compared to Rs 2 lakh crore placed for 2022-23.
According to sources, the focus of this Budget will be on infrastructure and social security, in addition to agriculture, education, health, rural development, sports, and Mission Shakti. A significant portion of the budget could be used to fund the state's premier health-care program, such as the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY). New irrigation facilities, KALIA payment incentives, and other farm sector subsidies are also likely to be included. Special provisions and allocations may also be made for the Srimandir Parikrama Project, the Lingaraj Project, and other temple development projects.
Niranjan presented the State Budget with a total outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore in the Assembly in July last year. This came after an interim budget for four months - April to July 2022 - was presented in March because a full-fledged budget could not be presented at that time due to ongoing panchayat and urban polls.

According to the Odisha Economic Survey report, which was tabled in the assembly on Thursday, the state's economy grew at an impressive 7.82 percent in real terms, compared to the national average of 7%, in the current fiscal year 2022-23, and is expected to grow even faster at 8 to 8.5 percent in 2023-24.

This is significantly higher than the national average forecast of 6 to 6.8%.

For the current fiscal year, Odisha's per capita income was Rs 1,50,676, compared to the national rate of Rs 1,70,620. It has gradually closed the gap with India's PCI, which has grown 9.4 percent in nominal terms since 2011-12 at an annual compounding rate of 10.9 percent. "Odisha will converge and exceed India's per capita income in the shortest possible time, bringing all-round prosperity driven by growth, innovation, technology, governance, institutional innovation, and effective decentralization," according to the report.