Patna, Feb 3: The Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday presented a Rs 3.47 lakh crore budget, asserting that the state was making progress at a rapid pace and estimating the growth rate for the current fiscal at an impressive 14.9 per cent.
Finance minister tables budget
Tabling the budget in the state assembly, Finance Minister Bijendra Yadav profusely thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Centre’s generous help to Bihar and lauded Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “visionary” leadership that was focused on achieving “inclusive growth”.
Budget size and fiscal position
“The size of the budget for the year 2026-27 is Rs 3,47,589.78 crore, which is Rs 30,694.74 crore more than Rs 3,16,895.02 crore in 2025-26. Fiscal deficit is likely to be around Rs 39,400 crore, which is 2.99 per cent of the state’s GDP,” the minister told the House.
Praise for Centre and growth outlook
“On behalf of this House, I would like to thank PM Modi, under whose leadership the nation has been progressing at a steady pace. Bihar received many things in last year’s Union budget, which included new airports, a makhana board and other food processing units. The state has been among the fastest developing ones, with its growth rate for 2024-25 expected to be around 14.9 per cent,” he said.
Chief minister’s leadership highlighted
Turning towards the Chief Minister, Yadav showered encomiums on him for embodying the “five virtues (paanch tattva) of ‘imaan, gyaan, vigyaan, armaan and samman’ (integrity, knowledge, a scientific temper, aspiration and self-respect)”, which were scripting the journey towards achieving a “viksit (developed) Bihar” by making progress that was “samaveshi” (inclusive) and ensured growth with justice.
Focus on women empowerment
Kumar was also lauded by the minister for his thrust on the empowerment of women, the most recent example of which was the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, rolled out ahead of the state assembly polls held in November last year.
“Altogether 1.56 crore women have received Rs 10,000 each, and those who have utilised the sum for setting up businesses will soon get another Rs 2 lakh,” said Yadav, about the scheme that is said to have decisively clinched the deal in favour of the ruling NDA, which retained power with a brute majority.
Sector-wise allocations
According to the budget, the annual scheme outlay is stated to be around Rs 1.22 lakh crore, with the Rural Development Department getting a lion’s share of 18.33 per cent, followed by Education (15.02 per cent), Health (8.21 per cent), Urban Development and Housing (7.77 per cent), Rural Works (7.29 per cent) and Social Welfare (6.86 per cent).
Funds for SCs, STs and minorities
A sum of Rs 19,603.02 crore has been earmarked for the Scheduled Castes Special Component Plan, and Rs 1,648.41 crore for the Tribal Sub-Plan. The amount has been “earmarked under Minor Head so that it cannot be spent for any other purpose” except the benefit of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Additionally, a provision of Rs 13,202.38 crore has been made for the social welfare of SCs, STs, OBCs, most backward classes and minorities.
Revenue and investment targets
The budget also asserted that the state’s finances were in good shape, as evident from the revenue deficit for 2024-25 remaining at 0.04 per cent of GSDP, though the fiscal deficit was 4.16 per cent, “which is more than the prescribed conditional limit of 3 per cent”.
Also Watch:
The minister also told the House that the government has set a target of doubling the state’s per capita income in the next five years and that steps were being taken to attract “private investments worth Rs 5 lakh crore for rapid industrial development”.
The state expects its own revenue in 2026-27 to be Rs 75,202.98 crore, of which tax revenue shall account for Rs 65,800 crore.
(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
