Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s first full budget does not carry screaming announcements. Instead, it adopts a pragmatic approach that bets big on infrastructure to push growth, while not losing sight of the social sectors.
The Rs 2.90-lakh-crore budget for 2025-26 presented by Majhi, also the state’s finance minister, gives due weight to agriculture with a 12 per cent jump in allocation focusing on cold storage chains, crop diversification, irrigation and research. Health and education have received necessary provisions, while the government’s flagship Subhadra scheme, under which women get yearly cash transfers of Rs 10,000 for five years, has been given more heft. A whopping Rs 13,000 crore for decongesting Bhubaneswar and setting up a mega metropolitan region over 7,500 sq km are also welcome decisions. The budget also had its share of welfarism, as it unfurled 16 new schemes.
The proposals make a compelling pitch to build industrial corridors and develop ports and expressways that can address regional disparity, a crucial aspect ignored for long. In its allocation of Rs 62,206 crore, the Majhi government has thrown its weight behind infrastructure development in both urban and rural areas. A string of road projects that link ports to the hinterland, a push for new port projects, and Rs 6,500 crore for developing 3,000 km of roads to industrial and mineral belts will go a long way in supporting industry and trade.
“These transformative infrastructure projects will fuel industrial expansion, trade and employment, bringing us closer to our vision of a prosperous and self-reliant Odisha,” Majhi said in his speech. He backed it with a capital outlay of Rs 65,012 crore—more than 6 per cent of the state gross domestic product, a high proportion among the major states.
The chief minister has adopted a balanced approach to development while carefully sticking to a moderate growth in outlay since slow expenditure is a major concern. Given the state’s non-tax revenues of Rs 60,000 crore, 80 per cent of which comes in the form of mining royalties, there is a cushion on the credit side that the government enjoys.
However, the vision for having a USD 500-billion economy by 2036 will require the Majhi government to expand its revenue base, spend much more and then use the capacity created. For now, he has time for bolder decisions.