Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who holds the Finance portfolio, is set to present the state budget for 2025-26 fiscal in Odisha Assembly on Monday. This will be the second budget to be tabled by Majhi after the BJP formed government in the state after 2024 polls.
According to sources, the state budget is likely to touch Rs 3 lakh crore, up from Rs 2.65 lakh crore in 2024-25. The budget is likely to focus on agriculture, social sector, health, education and infrastructure.
As the latest Economic Survey of Odisha projected state’s economy to grow by 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent in 2025-26, the budget is likely to continue its focus on social sector spending and give a push to industry, services and MSMEs for generation of employment and income.
The state government’s flagship schemes such as Subhadra for empowerment of women and welfare programmes for farmers, poor and backward classes are likely to get renewed attention in the budget.
Notably, the Chief Minister had announced that the government will place a pro-poor and people’s budget with focus on rural development, infrastructure, health and education. A substantial hike in the size of the agriculture budget from Rs 33,919 crore in 2024-25 is expected as the BJP government increased the minimum support price (MSP) on paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal, adding a dose of input subsidy of Rs 800.
As per sources, the agriculture budget is likely to touch Rs 50,000 crore mark in 2025-26 in view of the focus of the government on farmers and all-round development of farm sector.
Other key components of the budget are likely to be health, education and infrastructure sectors. While outlay for health sector saw considerable increase, reaching Rs 20,837 crore in 2024-25, with Rs 5,374 crore allocated to Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana, allocation for education, rose marginally to Rs 34,323 crore and was still short of the recommended 6 per cent share of the GSDP.
One can expect a substantial hike in the allocation for health sector as the government is committed to improve rural health infrastructure while upgrading quality of healthcare services. The outlay for education will also increase to keep pace with the mandated 6 per cent of the GSDP.
