BJP govt in Guj presents Rs 3.01L cr Budget

Gandhinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat on Friday presented a Rs 3.01 lakh crore Budget, which among other things provides for doubling of insurance coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme and a 91 per cent increase in capital expenditure.

Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai presented the Budget for 2023-24, which proposed no new taxes, in the Assembly on the second day of the Budget Session. Outlay for capital expenditure was increased 91 per cent. Against Rs 38,052 crore last fiscal, this Budget provides for a capital expenditure of Rs 72,509 crore.

This was the first Budget of the new BJP government headed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel which took office in December after elections.

Desai said the outlay of Rs 3,01,021.61 crore for 2023-24 indicated a “significant increase” of Rs 57,077 crore, or 23.38 per cent, in comparison to the previous fiscal.

Of total outlay of Rs 3.01 lakh crore, Rs 1.91 lakh crore has been allocated for “development expenditure” while Rs 1.04 lakh crore will be “non-developmental” expenditure.

Taxes other than State GST are expected to contribute 24.49 per cent of revenue, state GST 22.20 pc, public debt 22.86 pc, share in central taxes 11.94 pc, recovery of loans 5.92 pc, central government grants 5.48 pc, non-tax revenue 5.72 pc and net public account 1.39 pc.

The Budget proposed a slew of schemes, some of which were part of the BJP’s poll promises.

Desai announced the doubling of insurance cover under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya-MA scheme to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 5 lakh. While PM JAY is popularly known as Ayushman Bharat, MA stands for Mukhyamantri Amrutam scheme which was merged with Centre’s PM-JAY by the state government. Rs 500 crore has been allotted for providing two cooking gas cylinders free every year to 39 lakh families under Ujjwala Yojna. The estimates for financial year 2023-24 show a surplus of Rs 916.87 crore, finance minister said.