Bankey Behari Corridor, Chhata Sugar Mill revival in focus

Focus on 3 Es -- education, entrepreneurship and employment; budget envisions development of state as AI hub, proposes four new expressways

- Umesh Raghuvanshi

LUCKNOW: Aimed at giving a push to infrastructure and technology and turning Uttar Pradesh into a trillion dollar economy with the focus on education, entrepreneurship and employment, the Yogi Adityanath government on Thursday presented its ninth annual budget (2025-26) of a projected size of over Rs 8.08 lakh crore.

The budget incorporates new schemes of Rs 28,478.34 crore with a futuristic vision to make the state the main investment hub and growth engine of the country.

The budget size of Rs 8,08,736.06 crore for 2025-26 is 9.8% more vis-a-vis the budget size of 2024-25.

Minister for finance Suresh Khanna, who presented the annual budget, read out his 24-page speech in nearly an hour and 20 minutes. He opened his address with two couplets, including one from the Ramcharitmanas to shower praises on chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and said the budget was devoted to the welfare of 25 crore people. Uttar Pradesh's Gross State Domestic Product, which was only Rs 12.89 crore in 2017-2018, is set to go up to Rs 27.51 lakh crore on March 31, 2025, Khanna said.

He also said U.P's GSDP growth rate was 11.6% against India's GDP growth rate of 9.6% in 2023-2024. Though Khanna did not give GSDP growth projections for 2025-26, the state government's analysis indicates the GSDP would grow at 11.85% (current prices) and reach Rs 30.77 crore by March 31, 2026.

The budget has 20.5% capital outlay.

Some key announcements have been made for development of infrastructure and making the youth tech-savvy with funds earmarked for education, entrepreneurship and employment. The budget has 22% allocations for infrastructure development, 13% for education, 11% for agriculture and allied services, 6% for medical and health and 4% for social security programmes.