State govt’s budget is manifestation of spirit of self-reliant UP, says Yogi

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 22 (ANI): Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has described the state government’s budget 2023-24 as a manifestation of the spirit of self-reliant Uttar Pradesh, said a press release on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference following the presentation of the budget in the Assembly, the Chief Minister said that the state has been following the ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’ mantra of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the last six years and working towards speedy, inclusive and overall development of Uttar Pradesh, in which this budget is a significant step, aimed at building a self-reliant Uttar Pradesh on the lines of ‘self-reliant India’, added the press release.

Referring to the budget provisions in sequence, he said,” Before the assembly elections, we had made 130 promises in the manifesto, out of which 110 promises have been included in today’s budget. It shows our commitment to deliver on our promises.”

“In the year 2017-18, our total exports in the state were only between Rs 86000-Rs 88,000 crores, today it is going to increase to around Rs 1.60 lakh crore”, he added.

Sharing happiness over the presentation of the biggest budget of Rs 6.90lakh crores in the history of Uttar Pradesh, CM Yogi said that the government worked on stopping tax evasion and financial management. “This budget is double as compared to the budget of 3.40 lakh crores of 2016-17. During this, no new tax was imposed on the public, while tax exemption was given on petrol and diesel in the state and today petrol and diesel are cheaper in Uttar Pradesh as compared to other states. Despite this, not only has the revenue collection of the state increased, but fiscal discipline was also taken full care of and the income of the government has also increased.

Referring to the strong financial position of the State, the Chief Minister said that earlier around 8 per cent of the budget used to go towards arrears of old loans, but today it has come down to 6 per cent due to efficient financial management. The unemployment rate of UP which was 17-18 per cent in 2016-17 has come down to 4 per cent today.

There has been a massive improvement in the CD ratio and today it stands at 55 per cent. He said that the state tax revenue in 2016-17 was Rs 86,000 crores, which is estimated to increase to Rs 2.22 lakh crore in 2022-23. Sales tax/VAT collection was Rs 51883 crores in the year 2016-17, today it is going to be up to 1.24 lakh crores.

Similarly, Rs 14277 crore was received as state excise in 2016-17, which is estimated to be more than 49,000 crores in this financial year. He said that in the year 2022-23, according to the FRBM Act, the government has been successful in keeping it up to 3.96 per cent against the prescribed limit of a 4 per cent fiscal deficit.

In the year 2016-17 own state tax was 33 per cent of the total revenue receipt, while today in the year 2022-23 the budget has doubled, yet this ratio is estimated to be up to 44 per cent. The Chief Minister said that 20 per cent of the budget for the year 2016-17 was financed by loans, while today the percentage of loans in the budget for the year 2023-24 has come down to 16 per cent. Similarly, about 8 per cent of the budget was spent on the interest on loans and the year 2022-23 budget has been reduced to 6.5 per cent.

The Chief Minister said that the size of the budget is according to the needs of the state. This goal is achieved by creating financial discipline.

“We have always presented a budget representing Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas. The state government made a systematic effort with regard to one theme in each of its budgets.

The present government dedicated its first budget to the farmers in the year 2017-18. The budget for the year 2018-19 was for industrial development and basic infrastructure facilities.

The budget for the year 2019-20 was dedicated to women’s empowerment. The budget for the year 2020-21 was dedicated to youth and infrastructure development. The budget of the year 2021-22 was dedicated to empowerment through self-reliance and the budget of 2022-23 was dedicated to the concept of self-reliant Uttar Pradesh and ‘Antyodaya’.”

“Similarly, the basic spirit of the budget of 2023-24 is self-reliant Uttar Pradesh. The increase in the size of the budget of the state by more than 02 times in 06 years shows the commitment to expand the economy of the state”, the CM pointed out.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the budget of the state has more than doubled in the last 6 years. During this period the per capita income of the state has more than doubled too. He said that in the announcements made in today’s budget, mainly a large part is for capital expenditure in the state.

This means that amount will be spent on the development of infrastructure in the state, which will play a major role in employment generation in the state. The Chief Minister said that in this biggest budget in the history of the state, special care has been taken for basic infrastructure development, education, health and farmers, women and youth.