No populist measure as Kerala budget focuses on infra push

Highlights of budget ₹152k-cr revenue receipts ₹179k-cr revenue expenditure ₹750cr for first phase of rehabilitation of Wayanad landslides survivors ₹1.1k-cr for Life Mission housing scheme ₹10.4k-cr for health sector ₹289 crore for Kochi metro rail project 50% hike in land tax across all slabs

- Vishnu Varma

KOCHI: Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal presented the financial outlay of the state for FY 2025-26 on Friday, seeking to mop up revenue mobilising measures through tax hikes on land and vehicles, push the accelerator on building infrastructure and steering clear of populist measures ahead of local body elections this year and the assembly polls next year.

In an address that lasted over two-and-a-half hours, Balagopal, presenting the last full budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, painted the picture of a state that has "overcome the trying times of severe fiscal constraints" and attributed the failure to pay DA arrears to state government employees and pensioners in the past to the curtailment of the state's borrowing limits and the reduction in the divisible pool of taxes.