Puducherry CM Rangasamy presents Rs 12,700 crore tax-free budget

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy presented a tax-free budget involving allocation of Rs 12,700 crore for the fiscal 2024-2025 in the territorial Assembly on Friday.

He said the budget size of Puducherry has been fixed at Rs 12,700 crore.

Rangasamy, who holds the Finance portfolio, also stated that the Union Territory's own receipts have been estimated at Rs 6,914.66 crore while the Central assistance including State Disaster Relief fund has been estimated at Rs 3,268.98 crore. The Central road fund has been estimated at Rs 20 crore while allocation under Centrally-sponsored schemes has been estimated at Rs 430 crore.

During his 80-minute-long address, Rangasamy also said that he was extremely happy to present his fourth budget in the fifteenth legislative Assembly.

The Central government had conveyed its approval for the net borrowing ceiling to the extent of Rs 2,066.36 crore "to bridge our fiscal deficit," he said.

He said out of the budget estimate of Rs 12,700 crore, a sum of Rs 10,969.80 crore had been allocated for revenue expenditure and Rs 1,730.20 crore for capital expenditure.

Rangasamy said that a major portion of the financial resources go towards meeting committed expenditure such as salaries, pension, repayment of loans and interest payments.

A sum of Rs 2,574 crore has been allocated for salaries out of the budget estimate of Rs 12,700 crore during 2024-2025. The government has earmarked Rs 1,388 crore for payment of pensions, Rs 1,817 crore for repayment of loans and interest and Rs 2,509 crore for purchase of power.

The government's other major expenditure included payment of old-age pensions and other welfare schemes, financial assistance to women heads of families, subsidy for LPG cylinders to the tune of Rs 1,900 crore among others.