Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government focused on women, religion and growth as it kept funding for welfare schemes largely unchanged from last year while increasing allocations for the Simhastha religious fair and cow welfare projects in its 2025-26 budget unveiled Wednesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s second state budget since it returned to power in 2023 had a total outlay of Rs 4,21,032 crore, of which it allocated Rs 18,669 crore for the state’s flagship Mukhya Mantri Ladli Behna Yojana 2023.
This was a slight reduction from last year but still remains the largest allocation for any state scheme.
The BJP also earmarked Rs 18,715 crore for the Simhastha religious fair to be held in Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s hometown of Ujjain in 2028. The allocation marked an increase of Rs 2,000 crore from the amount earmarked for this purpose last year.
It set aside Rs 474 crore to establish a world-class Deep Tech Research and Discovery campus in Ujjain, aimed at advancing future technologies with support from IIT Indore.
Apart from the research centre at Ujjain, Principal Secretary (Finance) Manish Rastogi said the government will also set up Madhya Pradesh Institute of Technologies and Digital Universities across the state on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Finance Minister Jagdish Devda said the PPP model would also be used in the health and education sectors. “Our government will build infrastructure with support from private investment, a policy for which is being outlined. Under this policy, the government will be adopting the best practices and management models of the private sector to be implemented in government institutes,” Devda said while presenting the budget.
Social Impact Bonds will also be issued, he added.
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No increase in Ladli Behna monthly payments
Devda, however, did not announce an increase in the Mukhya Mantri Ladli Behna Yojana’s monthly stipend of Rs 1,250 despite expectations that it would be hiked to Rs 3,000 for each of the 1.27 crore women registered under the scheme.
“The scheme has been announced for a period of five years and the necessary increase in stipend would be made in due course,” Devda told the media when asked about speculation over the increase in the amount of monthly installments.
But the state’s financial health is still challenging.
While the budget pegged the revenue surplus for the year at Rs 618 crore, the fiscal deficit was projected to widen to 4.66 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) from 4.15 percent in FY 2024-25.
Meanwhile, the debt-to-GSDP ratio is expected to increase to 29.5 percent in FY 2025-26 from 28.1 percent in FY 2024-25. Revenue receipts are estimated to grow 14 percent from Rs 3,30,193 crore in FY 2024-25 to Rs 3.30.193 crore.
Meanwhile, the total expenditure will increase from Rs 3,26,382 crore in FY 2024-25 to Rs 3,75,337 crore. Devda announced a 31 percent increase in capital expenditure from Rs 64,738 crore in FY 2024-25 to Rs 85,076 crore in FY 2025-2026.
“The increased allocation in capital expenditure is an important aspect and drives the economy,” Tanvi Sundriyal, director (budget), told the media.
The budget, which comes on the heels of the Global Investors Summit (GIS), allocated Rs 2,000 crore for Industrial Promotion Schemes, Rs 1,250 crore for the MSME Promotion Business Investment Facilitation Scheme, and Rs 200 crore for infrastructure development of micro, small and medium enterprises.
It also set aside Rs 87 crore for the development of district industrial centers and Rs 130 crore for the Chief Minister Entrepreneur Revolution Scheme. The industries department’s funding rose to Rs 3,250 crore, an increase of Rs 551 crore from FY 2024-25.
Meanwhile, the state government also earmarked Rs 80 crore for the Mukhya Mantri Sugam Parivahan Seva and another Rs 57 crore for transportation establishments at the district level.
In a bid to boost dairy production in Madhya Pradesh, the budget announced the CM Dairy Development Scheme with an allocation of Rs 50 crore. Development of the state’s dairy sector will be undertaken with support from the National Dairy Development Corporation.
The Madhya Pradesh government is drafting a policy to make the state’s 2,200 gaushalas, which house about 3.45 lakh cows, financially self-sufficient. The budget also doubled the daily fodder allowance for cows from Rs 20 to Rs 40 per day.
Deputy Chief Minister Devda also announced a provision of Rs 10 crore for the Shrikrishna Pathey Yojana under which religious sites believed to be associated with the Hindu deity Krishna will be developed. Another Rs 30 crore was allocated for the development of the Ram Gaman Path and the pilgrimage town of Chitrakoot.
The government allocated Rs 47,295 crore for the tribal sub-plan, up by Rs 6,491 crore from the previous budget, while the scheduled caste sub-plan received Rs 32,633 crore, an increase of Rs 4,733 crore.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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