NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Monday presented the Budget for FY25 with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore, which is Rs 2,800 crore lower than the previous year’s.
This was the 10th Budget of the Arvind Kejriwal government. Finance Minister Atishi focused most of her budget speech on elaborating how a decade of the Arvind Kejriwal government made a difference in the lives of people in the national capital city without delving too much into the future roadmap for the state.
The highlight of the Budget, though, was the announcement of the launch of Chief Minister Mahila Samman Yojana under which the government promises to give Rs 1,000 every month to each woman above 18 years of age. The government has allocated Rs 2,000 crore for the scheme.
This was Atishi’s maiden Budget. Last year, Kailash Gahlot presented the Budget after the Enforcement Directorate arrested former Deputy CM and finance minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case.
Among major allocations, the education sector received Rs 16,396 crore in FY25, and the health sector Rs 8,685 crore. An allocation of Rs 7,195 crore was proposed for the Delhi Jal Board for the next financial year. The Budget has also proposed Rs 3,353 crore for the power sector for the year 2024-25.
Listing the achievements of the AAP government in the last nine years, Atishi said that as many as 38 schools of specialized excellence were launched in 2021-22, besides Armed Forces Preparatory School, Delhi Sports School, and Delhi Model Virtual School were also launched.
She also highlighted that in the past three years, over 4 lakh children have taken admission in Delhi government schools after leaving private schools. Six new university campuses have come up since 2016.
In the health sector, the finance minister said 38 hospitals are providing treatment free of cost to more than 81,000 OPD patients daily and 65,806 IPD patients monthly.
Reflecting on the party’s 10-year journey, Atishi said the state’s Gross State Domestic Product has more than doubled to Rs 11.08 lakh crore (in current prices) in FY25 from Rs 4.95 lakh crore in FY15.
The per capita income in Delhi would increase from Rs 2.47 lakh in 2014-15 to Rs 4.62 lakh in FY25.
Mahila Samman Yojana
The govt has promised to give Rs 1,000 every month to each woman above 18 years of age in certain categories under the Mahila Samman Yojana scheme from FY 2024-25 and allocated Rs 2,000 crore for the scheme
Per capita income up
The per capita income is projected to be up from Rs 2.47 lakh in 2014-15 to Rs 4.62 lakh in FY25. “Expenditure on asset creation (capital expenditure) would double from Rs 7,430 crore in FY15 to Rs 15,089 crore in FY25,”Atishi said.