The state budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been received mixed response in the region with the ruling party leaders hailing it and opposition leaders criticising it. Experts and trade bodies to have given mixed response to the budget.
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Minister for Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil has hailed the budget as the one which aimed at lifting up the poor above the poverty level and also ensuring overall development of the state. He also thanked the chief minister for announcing various projects for Gadag district.
Karnatak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has termed the budget as the one aimed at fostering the growth of Hubballi-Dharwad industrial zone in North Karnataka with the major announcement being development of an Industrial Nodal Zone consisting of 6,000 acres near Dharwad.
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Additionally, to ease the financial burden on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) aiming to go public, the cost of issuing an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the stock exchanges has been capped at Rs 25 lakhs, with a provision for a 50% subsidy and this measure, along with the agreement to expedite payments to MSMEs, aims to reinforce their financial stability. The initiative to upgrade industrial estates across all district centres and anticipated creation of 10,000 jobs from a new textile park in Kittur Karnataka are welcome proposals, President of KCCI S.P. Saunshimath and other office bearers of KCCI have said in a release.
The union minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi, has likened the budget to a political speech which didnot adhere to any parameters of economics. “The budget presented by Siddaramaiah is mainly aimed at mobilising funds for the guarantee schemes and does not include any constructive proposals on making the state a centre of economical strength. The loan burden has being increased to Rs. 1,05,246 cr, making it a budget of loan burden”, he has said.
Professor of Economics from Karnatak University, Prof. B.H. Nagoor, has said that the chief minister has tried to balance between fiscal discipline and meeting expenditure of around Rs 58,000 crores towards five guarantee schemes. The budget proposes to spend a record level of Rs 3,71,383 crores during the year 2024-25, which is higher by 17 percent compared to the previous revised budget estimation for the year 2023-24.
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To meet the record expenses of the budget, it is proposed to borrow Rs 1,05,246 crores ,
which constitutes 28.33 % of the total budget expenditure. Instead of spending borrowed amount on revenue expenditure, it should have been spent on completing many ongoing irrigation projects, education and health sector etc, he has said.
All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) has said that while the budget had few student friendly programmes, several other demands had been neglected. While launching CET and NEET coaching programmes in government and aided colleges is a welcome move, restricting the budget allocation to 11.9% of the total budget instead of 30% is disappointing, it has said.
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Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has termed as budget as disappointing as it had failed to assure the youths of employment generation. While the ‘Yuva Nidhi’ scheme is a welcome, the guidelines fixed for its implementation are unscientific, it has said in a release.
Minister for Textile and Sugar Shivanand Patil has thanked the chief minister for announcing various projects for Haveri district and termed the budget as development oriented. Congress leader from Hubballi Rajat Ullagaddimath has hailed the budget as development oriented budget.
Hubballi Dharwad Central MLA Mahesh Tenginakai of BJP has expressed deep disappointment with the budget proposals and said that the budget appeared to focus on minority appeasement, neglecting all sectors, including the farming community. There were also no significant announcements aimed at development of Hubballi Dharwad, he has said.