Budget size will touch ₹2 trillion soon, says Kerala Finance Minister

Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal on Sunday stood firm on his stand that the State’s budget size would soon touch ₹2 trillion.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Balagopal said that the annual expenditure in 2024-25 has touched ₹1.75 lakh crore. The spending in March alone had crossed ₹26,000 crore, he said.

Indications are that the State’s Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) would cross ₹84,000 crore in the current fiscal. Non-tax revenue has touched ₹15,632 crore, as per the estimates up to March 27. These figures could go up further once the final figures are in, he said.

According to Mr. Balagopal, the treasury outflow on total State Plan allocation (State Plan + LSG Plan) touched 92.32% this fiscal, which is considerably higher than the previous years. In the case of the LSG Plan alone, this is 110%, he said.

Mr. Balagopal cited these figures to refute the charge that the LDF government had cut Plan size by half. He said that it was true that the government had “prioritised” spending. The figures also indicate that the State is closing in on a ₹2 trillion budget size.

Sector-wise expenses

On sector-wise spending, Mr. Balagopal said that the government spent ₹13,082 crore on social security and welfare fund board pensions, which was ₹2,053 crore more than the budget allocation. The ₹1,012 crore on ration subsidy was higher by ₹74 crore, and the financial assistance of ₹1,612 crore to the ailing Kerala State Road Transport Corporation was higher by ₹676 crore.

The State government also released ₹211 crore towards the State share for ASHA workers, which was higher by ₹23 crore than the budget allocation, he said. As announced earlier, the three pending instalments of social security pensions will be issued in the coming fiscal, he said.