Aided by a buoyant economy, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai presented a ‘please-all’ revenue surplus budget with no tax hike on February 17, less than 100 days ahead of Assembly elections in the State. The budget outlay has, for the first time, crossed the ₹3 lakh crore mark, and is pegged at ₹3,09,182 crore, up from ₹2,65,720 lakh crore in 2022-23.
Fiscal deficit has been reined in at ₹60,581 crore, or 2.60% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). With borrowings of ₹77,750 crore, the liabilities at the end of 2023-24 are pegged at ₹5,64,896 lakh crore, or 24.20% of GSDP, thereby satisfying all parameters of Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002.
The budget has proposed a revenue surplus of ₹402 crore, breaking the trend of revenue deficit budgets for the past two years, when the budgets did not comply with the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002.
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The Budget speech is also being seen as a poll pitch for the ruling BJP and an exercise in “articulating the legacy” of Mr. Bommai. CM Bommai had earlier described the Budget as a “Budget for the voiceless”, with a focus on “farmers, working class, poor, and women”, setting its political tone.
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