More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Punjab government's Budget for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) has targeted a reduction in the fiscal deficit for next year, even as the allocation for capital spending has risen sharply. Punjab has set a fiscal deficit target of 3.84% of gross state domestic product for FY26, lower than the current year's revised estimate of 4.54% of GSDP. The state's fiscal deficit was 4.45% of GSDP in FY24.

 

"The Effective Revenue Deficit and Fiscal Deficit are expected to be 2.51% and 3.84%, respectively and have improved from previous figure depicting that the state is treading on the path of fiscal consolidation," Punjab's Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said in his Budget speech on Wednesday.

 

The state's total receipts for FY26 are projected at INR 1.62 trillion, of which INR INR 632.50 billion will be accounted for by the state's own tax revenue. Total receipts are estimated at INR 1.51 trillion in the current financial year. Revenue augmentation over the past few years has resulted in debt consolidation with the state's debt-to-GSDP ratio seen falling to 44.50% next year from 44.77% in FY25.

 

The total expenditure for FY26 is pegged at INR 1.65 trillion, 7.0% higher than the current year's revised estimate of INR 1.54 trillion. Of the total expenditure, INR 103.02 billion has been earmarked for capital spending, 23.4% higher than the revised estimate of INR 83.47 billion.

 

The Punjab government has allocated INR 145.24 billion for the agriculture and allied sectors in FY26. The government will spend INR 28.73 billion on construction and upgradation of rural link roads in FY26. For the development of housing and urban local areas, the Budget has allocated INR 59.83 billion for next year.

 

The state government will continue to provide 300 units of free power per month to domestic consumers, for which it has earmarked INR 76.14 billion in the FY26 Budget. Punjab has also allocated INR 99.92 billion for FY26 for providing power subsidy to the agriculture sector.

 

"We need to create fertile grounds for hundreds of thousands of new businesses - big and small - to thrive in Punjab," Cheema said in his speech. "This is the only way to create quality jobs for our youth. To achieve this goal, Punjab government will bring in a new industrial policy after carrying out extensive consultation with all the stakeholders."
 

The Punjab government has announced a 'Drug Census' in a bid to tackle the issue of drugs in the state. "We have to fight this war (against drugs) not just with force and weapons, but also scientifically through data and analysis," Cheema said. "We have decided to carry out the first ever "Drug Census" in Punjab next year."

 

The Drug Census will cover every household in Punjab and collect data to understand the prevalence of drugs, usage of deaddiction centres, besides collecting data on the socio-economic status of the people of Punjab, Cheema said. The state government will use data from the Drug Census to create a strategy to eradicate the problem of drugs within the next one-two years. It has proposed to spend INR 1.50 billion on the Drug Census in FY26.  End

 

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.