Gujarat finance minister Kanubhai Desai presented the annual budget for the year 2023-24 on Friday. It is the first budget since the Bharatiya Janata Party retained power with a record 156 seats in the recently concluded assembly election. Now with the 2024 Lok Sabha election in sight, the Bhupendra Patel-led government made some key announcements during the budget presentation including focus on infrastructure, taxes, housing scheme in a bid to woo all sections of the society.
Here are Gujarat government’s top 10 key budget announcements:
1) Outlining a budget of ₹3 lakh crore, Desai announced that no new taxes will be imposed on the people and changes in the overall taxation system will be made. “During the pandemic, we had given relief to various sections of the society to the tune of ₹1,000 crore by reducing various taxes,” he said.
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2) In line with the Centre’s vision of ‘Amrit Kaal’, Desai said “the budget which will determine the direction of the development of the state for the next 25 years.” Desai also said that the government aims to increase the state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) beyond ₹42 lakh crore.
3) The Gujarat government plans to spend around ₹5 lakh crore on development of infrastructure facilities in the next five years. The state, which still healing from the horrors of the Morbi bridge collapse in October which killed at least 135 people, saw a provision ₹550 crore for reconstruction and strengthening of old bridges in its latest budget.
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4) As part of infrastructure boost, the government also plans on developing five highways in Gujarat to be developed as high speed corridors at a cost of ₹1,500 crore, Desai announced.
5) As promised in its manifesto before the 2022 election, the government has proposed to double the annual insurance limit to ₹10 lakh from existing ₹5 lakh under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya-MA scheme for eligible families, Desai said.
6) As part of its other promises, the government also announced that it would provide two gas cylinders free per year to the beneficiaries of Ujjwala scheme.
7) In its budget, the Patel government also included a provision of ₹150 crore for Sabarmati riverfront near Gujarat’s GIFT City, Gandhinagar and said that an amount of ₹5,950 crore would be allocated for the ambitious Narmada project. This includes provision for ₹1082 crore for the remaining works of the Kutch Branch Canal(KBC). KBC is hailed as the country’s largest irrigation project with more than 60,000 kms of the canal network.
8) Desai also announced establishing a Financial tech hub in GIFT City with the support of Philippines-based Asian Development Bank. A provision of ₹76 crore proposed for the ambitious GIFT City was also announced during the budget.
9) The finance minister announced that a provision of ₹200 crore in the budget covers equity contribution to Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train Project under PM Gati Shakti.
10) In a major fillip to sports, the Gujarat government also announced its plans to set up sports complexes in each district and taluka of the state.