Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna has hailed the last budget of the Narendra Modi government for 2023-23 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
He said the budget was inclusive and would benefit all sections of society and would give a new boost to the economic activity in the country. He said this budget would realise the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making India a self-reliant nation.
The UP finance minister said the budget prepared as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would serve the interests of all sections of society, including farmers, youth, women, poor, traders and salaried class.
He said there was special emphasis on education, public health and infrastructure and the budget had given the much awaited relief to the middle class in income tax.
The minister said the relief in income tax would put more money in the hands of the taxpayers enhancing their purchasing power which would ultimately lead to more consumption and increase in demand for goods. He said the spurt in demand in the market would lead to more investment in the economy and create more jobs.
Khanna said as per the estimates of the Union Budget, UP share in Central taxes in 2022-23 was estimated to be Rs 1.47 lakh crore. As per the revised estimates, UP will get Rs 1.70 lakh crore from the Centre during the current fiscal 2022-23.
He said this amount was Rs 23,246 crore more than the budget estimates.
The UP finance minister said during the next fiscal 2023-24 UP would get Rs 1, 84 lakh crore from the Centre which would be Rs 37,000 crore more as compared to 2022-23.
He said under special assistance to states for capital investment, the Centre had announced to provide interest-free loan for 50 years for capital expenditure and a provision of Rs 1 lakh crore had been made in the budget of 2022-23. He said provision for UP was Rs 14,351 crore and so far Rs 7,654 had been released by the Union government.
He said in the Union Budget of 2023-24 provision of Rs 1.3 lakh crore had been made and UP would get a good share from this.
Khanna said the Union budget had taken care of the interests of Uttar Pradesh as funds had been provided in the budget for the infrastructure projects in the state.