Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented his 16th budget with an outlay of ₹4.09 lakh crore for the year 2025-26, against last year's ₹3.71 lakh crore.
In his three-and-a-half hour budget speech, Siddaramaiah made a case for the five guarantee schemes amid criticism from the opposition parties by allocating ₹51,034 crore and calling it a part of the ‘Karnataka model’ of development.
#WATCH | Bengaluru: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah arrives at the Vidhan Soudha with the Budget document ahead of the budget presentation. pic.twitter.com/OMmnexT6Zg
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“The five guarantees are not merely freebies but strategic investments made on economic and social principles. Government has the responsibility to give equal access to the available resources in the state," the chief minister said.
"By balancing economic development with people's welfare, we are shaping Karnataka's development model through the concept of Universal Basic Income. It is also an emphatic answer to many social and economic questions raised by various international fora. Our welfare schemes aim to increase people's purchasing power and women's empowerment is one of the approaches to do it,” stated the CM, adding that his government had managed the guarantees within the prudent fiscal deficit norm of 3 per cent of GSDP and debt–GSDP ratio of 25 per cent for the last two budgets.
This year, an allocation of ₹28,608 has been made for 1.22 crore beneficiaries under the ‘Grihalakshmi’ scheme (monthly assistance of ₹2,000 to woman heads of the family), ₹10,100 crore for ‘Griha Jyoti’ – free electricity up to 200 units to 1.62 crore registered consumers, ₹5,300 crore for 'Shakthi' (free bus travel for women) scheme and ₹286 crore for ‘Yuva Nidhi’ (unemployment benefit) to 2.58 lakh youths registered under the scheme. The financial assistance was being given in lieu of additional five kilo rice to 4.21 crore beneficiaries under the Anna Bhagya – free rice scheme. This year, five kilo rice will be provided (making it 10 kilos of free rice per person).
“Going beyond the guarantees, we have made a substantially higher allocation for capital expenditure in the budget. We have managed to do this even while keeping the fiscal deficit and total liabilities ratio within prudent fiscal norms and limits mandated by the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act,” stated the CM.
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The budget allocation has been further divided into SCSP-TSP (SC/ST development) - ₹42,018 crore, gender budget ₹94,084 crore, and child budget ₹62,033 crore.
While the Budget estimate for 2025-26 is ₹4,09,549 crore, the total receipts is ₹4,08,647 crore (revenue receipts - ₹2,92,477 crore and capital receipts – ₹1,16,170 crore) including public debt of ₹1,16,000 crore. The total expenditure includes revenue expenditure of ₹3,11,739 crore, capital expenditure of ₹71,336 crore and loan repayment of ₹26,474 crore.
The revenue targets under the tax proposals include commercial tax of ₹1,20,000 crore, excise ₹40,000 crore, stamps and registration ₹28,000 crore, motor vehicle tax ₹15,000 crore and mineral tax ₹9,000 crore.
