Amid pandemonium by Opposition legislators, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who is also the Finance Minister, on Tuesday presented the ₹2.79 lakh crore Budget in the State Assembly days after the JD(U)-BJP formed the government.
Presenting the Budget, Mr. Choudhary said the current financial year 2023-24 saw 2.5 crore people rising above the poverty line in the State. “The State also registered a growth rate of 10.64% in the fiscal,” Mr. Choudhary added. The Budget has put maximum focus on education, rural development, social welfare, rural works and health sectors.
“The Budget expenditure has been increased by ₹16,840.32 crore from ₹2,61,885.40 crore to ₹2,78,725.72 crore for the financial year 2024-25,” said Sudhanshu Kumar, an economist, who is also said to have played a major role in preparing the Budget. Mr. Kumar also added, “Bihar is one of those States which have taken its fiscal responsibility seriously and implemented the FRBM Act (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act) in letter and spirit. “In 2024-25, we are again likely to generate a revenue surplus and the fiscal deficit is likely to be contained at 2.98% of State GDP that within the FRBM limits of 3%”, he further said, while speaking to The Hindu.
On February 12, the State government had tabled the Bihar Economic Survey 2023-24 in the Assembly. “The Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP) of Bihar is estimated to grow by 15.5%,” said Mr. Choudhary. “The per capita income of the State is estimated to be ₹59,637 per annum at current prices in the fiscal year 2022-23 which is up by 13.9% from previous financial year,” added Mr. Choudhary. The per capita income in 2018-19 was ₹44,451.
The CD (Credit-Deposit) ratio of Banks in the State too has improved significantly to 55.6% as on March 31 2023 against 53% in the previous year, said the report. “The State government would strive for harnessing internal resources of revenue and getting additional monetary allocations from the Union government to power the growth engines of the state,” Mr. Choudhary said.
