In March 2025, Ajanta Neog, Finance Minister (FM) of Assam presented the budget worth Rs 2.63 lakh crore for Financial Year 2025-26 (FY26) in the Assam Legislative Assembly in Dispur, Assam, with Fiscal Deficit(FD) of Rs 620.27 crore.
- The budget expenditure of the state saw an increase of 250% while Capital Expenditure(CapEx) has increased to Rs 24,964 crore in FY25.
- The budget for FY26 has proposed exemption of professional tax for monthly income up to Rs 15,000 for all working people in the state under the Assam Profession, Trades, Callings, and Employments Taxation Act, 1947.
Financial Indicators:
i.Total receipts are estimated at Rs 2,62,913.92 crore for Budget Estimates (BE) for FY26, including state consolidated fund (Rs 1,55,428.75 crore), public account (Rs 1,05,485.17 crore) and from contingency fund (Rs 2,000 crore).
ii.The Revenue collection in the state increased by 64.2%, from Rs 20,033 crore (in FY21) to Rs 33,886 crore (till February 2025).
iii.Total expenditure from the state’s Consolidate Fund is estimated at Rs 1,43,890.62crore in FY25, including revenue account (Rs 1,10,091.86 crore), capital account (Rs 33,798.76 crore).
- This projection of total expenditure for FY25 was later revised to Rs 1, 68,683 crore.
iv.The state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices is estimated to reach Rs 6.43 lakh crore in FY25, which is more than 150% increase over the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Rs 2.54 lakh crore for FY17.
- Also, the contribution of Assam’s GSDP (at current prices) has witnessed an increase of 1.65% in FY17 to 1.81% in FY23 Quarterly Estimate (QE).
- Similarly,the state’s contribution to India’s GDP at constant (2011-12) prices, has increased from 1.64% to 1.87% during the same period.
Key Allocations for Women Welfare Schemes:
i.Orunodoi Scheme: Rs 5,000 crore has been allocated for state’s flagship ‘Orunodoi’ scheme, which provides monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,250 to economically weaker families.
ii.Mukhya Mantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyan (MMUA): The state government has allocated Rs 3,038 crore for this scheme, which aims to promote women entrepreneurs in the state. The scheme will commence from April 1, 2025 in Behali (Assam).
- This scheme will cover at least 30 lakh Self-Help Group (SHG) members and 20 lakh SHGs from rural and urban areas of the state, respectively.
- In addition to that, an entrepreneurship fund of Rs 10,000 will be granted as seed capital and Rs 25,000 as bank loan.
iii.Mukhiya Mantri Nijut Moina Asoni (MMNMA) scheme: Rs 391crore has been allocated for the scheme, which aimed to promote girl’s higher education and fight against child marriage.
- Under this scheme, monthly financial support is provided to students of various classes: Class XI students (Rs 1,000); 1st year undergraduates (Rs 1,250) and Bachelor of Education(B.Ed) students (Rs 2500).
Key Allocations for New Initiative:
i.Tea Workers in the state: The state government has allocated Rs 342 crore to provide one-time financial support of Rs 5,000 for tea workers.
- While presenting the budget, the FM announced to extend the tax holiday for green tea leaves under the Assam Taxation (on Specified Lands) Act, 1990 for another two years, to reduce the challenges faced by the tea industry.
ii.Farmers: The budget has allocated additional financial support to farmers over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for certain crops such as: paddy (Rs 2,550 per quintal); maize (Rs 2,475 per quintal); and mustard (Rs 6,450 per quintal).
- The state government announced that Rs 10 lakh each will be provided to nearly 500 better performing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) under Mukhya Mantri Utkarsh Yojana(MMUY).
- It has announced Credit Guarantee Fund(CGF) Scheme with initial corpus of collateral-free loans up to Rs 15 crore.
iii.Higher Education: Under the new state scheme ‘Chief Minister’s Jibon Prerna’, monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,500 will be provided to students who graduate from government universities and colleges in 2025, for a period of 1 year.
- Researcher scholars in government universities will be given Rs 25,000 each and Rs 50,000 each to specially challenged research scholars.
iv.Subsidy on Food: Rs 370 crore has been allocated for the ‘Anna Sewa Se Jan Sewa’. The scheme will commence from October, 2025.
- Under this scheme, there will be a subsidy of Rs 25 per kilogram (kg) on masoor dal, Rs 20 per kg on sugar. In addition to that, 1 kg masoor dal will be given to families with over 5 members.
Other Key Allocations:
i.Human-Animal Conflict: Rs 20 crore has been allocated to Bon Mitra Abhiyan. Under this initiative, Gaja Mitra will be set up in 5 most human-animal conflict zones: Goalpara, Udalguri, Nagaon, Baksa, and Sonitpur.
- Also, the government has proposed to increase e-gratia for loss of human life due to human wildlife conflict from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and compensation for crop damage due to wildlife from Rs 7,500 to Rs 8,000 per bigha.
ii.Power Subsidy: The state government announced a rebate of Rs 1 per unit of consumption of electricity for maximum 120 monthly units for domestic and Jeevan Dhara customers. This new rate will come into effect from May 1, 2025.
Announcement:
- The Assam government will launch its own satellite, ‘ASSAMSAT’, in collaboration with Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) and Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO), and students from colleges and universities. The satellite will support areas such as agriculture, disaster management, infrastructure, border security, and policing.
- The government will reduce the electricity rate by Rs 1 per unit for Jeevan Dhara and domestic category consumers having consumption up to Rs 120 units in a month.
About Assam:
Chief Minister (CM)- Himanta Biswa Sarma
Governor- Lakshman Prasas Acharya
Capital- Dispur
National Parks (NPs)- Kaziranga NP, Manas NP
