We haven't done anything that violates fiscal discipline: CM Siddaramaiah on his 17th budget

Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI) Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that the Karnataka government has maintained fiscal discipline while continuing development programmes and welfare guarantees.

Addressing a press conference after presenting his 17th budget in the state Assembly for the financial year 2026–27, the chief minister claimed that the state's economic performance remained stronger than the national average and that the government had honoured its commitments under the five guarantee schemes.

"This budget supports the development of Karnataka. Even then, we have not done anything that violates fiscal discipline excessively," Siddaramaiah said.

The CM said Karnataka’s growth rate for 2025–26 stood at 8.1 per cent, higher than the national average of 7.4 per cent. He added that the government had spent significant resources on its five guarantees.

The five guarantees are ‘Gruha Jyothi’ offering 200 units electricity free to every household, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme promising Rs 2,000 to every woman head of a family and ‘Anna Bhagya’ offering 10 kg rice to every member of the BPL family a month.

The 'Yuva Nidhi’ promises Rs 3,000 dole to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders for two years (in the 18-25 age-group) and ‘Shakti’ scheme permits free travel for Karnataka women to travel within the state in government non-luxury buses.

"On these five guarantees alone, we have spent Rs 1,21,598 crore up to the end of February. That means we have made efforts to fulfill the promises given to the people. At the same time, we have maintained fiscal discipline," he said.

Referring to fiscal management, Siddaramaiah said the state was operating within the parameters prescribed under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003.

According to him, the fiscal deficit has been kept within the mandated 3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while the state’s total liabilities are projected to remain below the 25 per cent of GDP limit.

The chief minister said the state’s projected GDP for the next financial year was around Rs 33.05 lakh crore, while total liabilities were estimated at Rs 8,24,389 crore, or about 24.94 per cent of GDP.

On Opposition BJP leaders such as R Ashoka accusing the Congress government of borrowing too much and that the state has become debt-ridden, Siddaramaiah said borrowing is necessary for development.

"No country, no state, and not even a family can achieve development without borrowing. Borrowing is not wrong as long as it remains within the parameters of fiscal responsibility," he underlined.

Targeting the Centre, he said if it had given the funds due to Karnataka, this deficit would not have occurred.

Citing the example of the Jal Jeevan Mission, Siddaramaiah said the total project cost is Rs 69,488 crore. The Central share should be Rs 30,888 crore, but so far Karnataka has received only Rs 11,786 crore.

The state has already spent around Rs 37,000 crore. Even without receiving the Centre’s full share, the state contributed an additional Rs 15,500 crore, the CM said.

According to him, the Centre’s borrowing has shot up under the BJP rule.

"You should also know the fiscal deficit of the Central Government. Their debt has crossed Rs 218 lakh crore. In comparison, when the government led by Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the country’s debt was around Rs 53 lakh crore. Since then, they have borrowed about Rs 165 lakh crore. They also took about Rs three lakh crore as dividends from the Reserve Bank of India, which was unprecedented," he pointed out.

Siddaramaiah also claimed that the state would not have faced a revenue deficit if the Centre had released its full share under certain schemes.

On employment, the chief minister said the government would fill 56,432 vacant posts in the public sector and grant five years of age relaxation to candidates due to delays in recruitment.

Siddaramaiah also announced allocations to address regional imbalance based on recommendations of a committee headed by economist M Govinda Rao, while earlier disparities had been highlighted by the D M Nanjundappa committee.

An initial allocation of Rs 4,291 crore has been made as part of a proposed Rs 43,000 crore spending plan over five years.

For the Kalyana Karnataka region, the chief minister said the government would allocate Rs 5,000 crore in 2026–27, after spending Rs 13,000 crore over the past three years.

He also explained compensation for farmers affected by submergence under the Upper Krishna Project Phase-3.

Siddaramaiah said the government would provide Rs 30 lakh per acre for dry land and Rs 40 lakh per acre for irrigated land, with about one lakh acres expected to be impacted.

He further said that 33 ageing gates of the Tungabhadra Dam would be replaced before the monsoon, and that tenders had been finalised for the Mahadayi River Water Diversion Project, with the state awaiting forest clearance from the Centre. PTI GMS GMS KH