Bhubaneswar, Feb 24 (FN Representative) Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on Friday presented a welfare, growth development and investment oriented budget with an outay of Rs2,30,000 crore for 2023-2024. Presenting the budget in the state Assembly, Pujari said like previous years this year also the budget was presented in two parts-the Agriculture and the General budget. He claimed that budget for 2023-24 is more than 15 percent of 2022-2023 annual budget. In the financial year 2022-23, the annual budget outlay was 2,00,000 crore Pujari said the programme expenditure outlay has been increased by 35 times from Rs.3538 crore in 2000-2001 to Rs1,25,000 crores in 2023-24 and the proportion of capital expenditure in Odisha to the total budget is highest among all major states. The capital outlay in 2023-24 is Rs.51,683 crore which is 6 percent of the GSDP.
The capital outlay, he said has gone up by more than 60 times from Rs.834 crore during 2000-2001. The Finance Minister said, “we are amongst the very few states that are revenue surplus and capable of large-scale investments in people-centric and growth- oriented programmes. He further said, “We have the distinction of being the only state in the country that has been fully compliant with Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2005 since its enactment. “Our efforts in fiscal prudence have been recognized and we were adjudged as the No.1 State in fiscal management, as per the Care Edge States’ Ranking report, January, 2023,” Pujari claimed.
The budget, Pujari said, focuses on achieving rapid and inclusive growth through development of human resources, investment in physical and social infrastructure, and health care for all. The provision of social safety nets for the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections and empowerment of youth, women, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities, persons with disability and the senior citizens also received priority in the budget,the Finance Minister said.