Mumbai: With assembly elections likely to be held in October, the state budget for 2024-’25 presented on Friday was meant to please every voter demographic in the state.
Maharashtra Finance Minister Ajit Pawar presented a budget with provisions for women, farmers, youth, students, and religious minorities. An annual outlay of Rs 46,000 crore to pay women a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 was one of the biggest announcements in the budget. For farmers, there was the promise of free electricity for agricultural pumps and subsidies were announced for milk producers. Poor households will get three free cylinders of cooking gas annually. Stipends for youths undergoing industrial training and reduction in penalty for short payments of stamp duty were other announcements.
Cheaper Fuel
For the urban middle-class, there is a pre-election sop in reduction in taxes on diesel and petrol. With this, petrol and diesel are expected to become cheaper by about 65 paise per litre and Rs 2.07 per litre, respectively.
There were no major announcements in the health, education, and infrastructure sectors.
About Budget Presented By Maharashtra Finance Minister Ajit Pawar
Pawar’s budget has proposed Rs 6,12,293 crore in expenditure for 2024-’25. The proposed revenue receipts are Rs 4,99,463 crore and the revenue expenditure is Rs 5,19,514 crore. The revenue deficit is estimated at Rs 20,051 crore.
The government claimed to have exercised fiscal prudence by successfully keeping the state’s fiscal deficit and the revenue deficit within the limits set by the Fiscal Responsibility and Fiscal Management Act. Further, the government has claimed that the fiscal deficit for the year 2024-’25 is Rs 1,10,355 crore. As per the revised estimates, for 2023-’24, the state’s tax revenue is Rs 3,26,397 crore. The government has estimated Rs 3,43,040 crore as its tax revenue for FY 2024-’25.
Mahayuti Govt Tries To Regain Lost Ground
After facing a setback in the Lok Sabha election, the Mahayuti government has tried to regain lost ground by making large provisions for voters in the budget. It has introduced the ‘Mukhyamantri Mazhi Laadki Bahin Yojana’ (MLBY) and the ‘Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana’ (MAY) for women.
Under the MLBY, the government will provide Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women between 21 and 60 years of age to enhance their economic independence, health and nutrition. The government has made a provision of Rs 46,000 crore for this scheme, which will be implemented from July 2024. It has been said that the scheme was launched after the BJP-led government’s great success with a similar scheme in Madhya Pradesh.
About ‘Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana’ Scheme
Under the MAY scheme, three LPG cylinders will be given free of cost to poor women; the scheme will benefit 52,16,412 families. Around 44.06 lakh farmers are likely to benefit from free electricity for agricultural pumps of up to 7.5 horsepower capacity. A provision of Rs 14,761 crore will be made available in the form of a subsidy.
Finance Minister Ajit Pawar also announced plans to provide solar power pumps to a total of 8.50 lakh farmers under the ‘Magel Tyala Solar Power Pump (solar pumps on demand)’, to provide free electricity to the farmers. For this purpose, a provision of Rs 15,000 crore has been made.
Religious minorities will enjoy higher government guarantees on loans, with funds for schemes implemented by the Maulana Azad Minority Economic Development Corporation going up from Rs 30 crore to Rs 500 crore.
Provisions Made For Warkaris
The government has also made a provision of Rs 36.71 crore for Warkaris during Ashadi Ekadashi in Pandharpur. Every Dindi (comprising a ‘Palkhi’ and a group of Warkaris) will get Rs 20,000.
Other schemes include the ‘Chief Minister Youth Employment Training Scheme’, providing on-the-job training and monthly stipends up to Rs 10,000 for 10 lakh youths in the state; a subsidy of Rs 5 per litre to milk-producing farmers under the ‘Chief Minister Baliraja Subsidy Scheme’, scholarships for minority students for overseas education, the establishment of a gems and jewellery park at Mhape, Navi Mumbai, an international submarine centre and a scuba diving centre in Sindhudurg with an investment of Rs 66 crore, the ‘Sant Shri Roopalal Maharaj Economic Development Corporation’ for the Bari community and the annual ‘Shivrajyabhishek’ ceremony at Fort Raigad, the capital of Swarajya.
Pawar has exempted the five Central Armed Forces personnel from professional tax in this budget. Armed personnel on national duty in the Central Armed Police Forces, Assam Rifles, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, National Security Guard and Sashastra Seema Dal are exempted from paying business tax. Approximately 12,000 jawans will benefit from this.
There will also be a reduction in penalty on short payment of stamp duty. The Penalty levied on the difference in stamp duty will be reduced to one per cent per month – from the earlier two per cent – from the date of execution of the instrument. Also, an online process to claim a stamp duty refund will be started. The time limit to apply for this has been increased from six months to one year from the date of purchase of the stamp.
