Odisha budget focuses on infra, education and farming

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today presented Rs 84,487.77-crore budget for 2015-16 that focuses on infrastructure, education and agriculture.

The total expenditure proposed in budget estimates, including debt repayment, is Rs 84,487.77 crore, while total revenue receipts are estimated at Rs 70,940.50 crore, state Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat said presenting the annual budget in the assembly.

"The estimated fiscal deficit of Rs 10,400.28 crore would be 2.99 per cent of GSDP. The fiscal deficit would be financed through net borrowing of Rs 9,893.68 crore and net surplus public account of Rs 506.61 crore," Amat said.

He said revenue surplus has been estimated at Rs 5,101.51 crore in 2015-16 which is 1.47 per cent of GSDP.

Due to substantial shortfall in central transfer as well as own revenue and falling cash balances, it would not be possible to protect the capital outlay without resorting to market borrowing, the finance minister said.


Amat presented a separate budget for agriculture saying it showed the priority given to farm and allied sectors by the government.

He said the outlay for agriculture was raised to Rs 10,903.62 crore in 2015-16 compared to Rs 9542.22 crore in 2014-15, showing 14.27 percent increase.

"We propose to address critical gaps in availability of inputs like irrigation, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. We also propose to address the issues pertaining to post- harvest operations such as threshing, storage, warehousing and assuring remunerative price to the producers," Amat said.

Total non-plan expenditure is estimated at Rs 43,956.32 crore in 2015-16, while state's annual plan outlay has been fixed at Rs 44,150 crore, he said.

State plan outlay sees 3.45 per cent increase compared to that in 2014-15.

"Emphasis in the budget is on creation of physical, social and human capital," Amat said outside the house.

School and Mass Education Department received the highest allocation of Rs 9979.49 crore as against Rs 9327.12 crore provided in 2014-15 with the minister saying investment in education is an investment in future.

"This is the largest allocation among all departments and constitutes about 12 per cent of the total budgetary allocation," Amat said.