Panjab FM Presents $25B Budget for 2024-25

On 5 Mar, the Panjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema presented a $24.6B budget for the financial year (FY) 2024-25. The outlay is 2.9% more than the 2023-24 (revised estimates) of $23.9B. The total revenue receipts have been projected to be $12.5B in FY25, of which the own tax revenue (OTR) accounts for $7B. The rest has been projected as a share of central taxes and grant-in-aid from the Center. Presenting his third consecutive budget, Cheema said $1.6B has been earmarked for the agriculture sector, and $2B for the education sector. Cheema continued, ‘The effective revenue deficit and fiscal deficit are expected to be 2.77% and 3.80%, respectively and have improved from the previous figure of 3.13% and 4.12%.’ The outstanding debt has been projected at $45B at the end of FY25. In an interview, Cheema said, ‘His biggest achievement has been in reducing the state’s debt burden by 4%.’ Leader of the Opposition in Panjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, called the budget ‘disappointing’ and ‘unconvincing.’ Bajwa said that 23% of the total receipts would go towards interest on debts and 57.6% on salaries and pensions. In the same budget session, Panjab INC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was forcibly evicted from the assembly by marshals when he refused to leave the House, demanding more time to speak on the state budget and comment on the AAP’s promise to implement the Old Pension Scheme, notified in Nov 2022 but still not implemented. The opposition reminded the government that the budget was silent on a key populist electoral promise by AAP — ₹1,000 per month or $12 to every woman in the state.