Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today presented the budget for 2025-26 with a fiscal deficit of Rs 1,970 Crore, which is around 2.96 per cent of the GSDP.
He highlighted that the fiscal deficit has been maintained below the permissible limit of 3.5 per cent.
The estimated total receipts at Rs 30,415 crore of which the revenue receipts are estimated at Rs 25,591 crore and capital receipts at Rs 4,824 crore. Excluding borrowings of Rs 4,788 crore, the total receipts are estimated to be Rs 25,627 crore.
On the expenditure side, the total estimated expenditure is at Rs 30,003 Crore of which the revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs 20,556 crore and capital expenditure at Rs 9,447 crore. Excluding payment of loans of Rs 2,406 Crore, the estimated total expenditure is Rs 27,597 crore.
Interest payments for 2025-26 are estimated at Rs 1,347 crore and pension payments at Rs 1,824 crore.
Along with the main budget the chief minister also presented the Climate, Youth, Gender and SDG Budgets. The size of the climate budget for 2025-26 is Rs 5,421 Crore, an increase of 20 per cent over 2024-25; Youth Budget at Rs 3,329 Crore, an increase of 16.6 per cent and Gender Budget stands Rs 6,219 Crore, an increase of 25 per cent.
According to Sangma, the total expenditure for 2025-26 is estimated at Rs 30,003 Crore given the increased transfers from the Centre and projected State receipts. “This is a 3-fold increase in expenditure over the 8-year period, which is one of the highest growth rates in the country – expenditure in 2017-18 was only Rs 9,858 Crore; Country’s expenditure during the same period has increased by 2.3 times,” he said.
Sangma said the total expenditure comprises of Rs 23,353 Crore State expenditure and Rs 6,650 Crore CSS expenditure. Total revenue expenditure for the year is Rs 20,556 Crore and capital expenditure is Rs 9,447 Crore. Notably, the projected capital expenditure is a seven-fold increase from 2017-18 levels of Rs 1,435 Crore.
He said in 2023, when MDA 2.0 Government was formed, it was announced the target of making Meghalaya a $ 10 billion economy and doubling the State’s GDP from the then Rs 42,697 Crore to Rs 85,000 Crore by 2028. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation approved GSDP numbers for 2023-24 is Rs 53,057 Crore and the projected GSDP for 2025-26 is at an impressive Rs 66,645 Crore.
He informed that the annual growth rate for the period 2023-26 stands at 12.7 per cent and added that the government is certain to achieve the target for 2028.
The chief minister said the total estimated transfers from the Centre to Meghalaya are expected to rise to Rs 20,568 Crore in 2025-26, up from revised estimates of Rs 19,242 Crore in the current year. “This growth is largely driven by India’s robust economic performance. Notably, the share of central taxes is projected to increase by 10.5 per cent to Rs 10,910 Crore in 2025-26, up from Rs 9,870 Crore in the current year. I would like to thank our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji for steering the country’s growth over the last decade,” he added.
Stating that the government has made strong efforts to improve Tax and Non-tax revenues, Sangma said the State’s own tax revenue has witnessed a significant surge, reaching Rs 4,041 Crore in the current year, marking almost a three-fold increase from Rs 1,450 Crore in 2017-18. He said the State’s own tax revenue will reach Rs 4,226 Crore in 2025-26, comprising of GST of Rs 2,094 Crore, Taxes on Sales and Trade of Rs 1,180 Crore and Excise of Rs 682 Crore.
Sangma said the State’s own non-tax revenue collection has been unpredictable in the recent past due to various judgements of courts and long drawn transition to scientific mining. However, the outlook is optimistic with three mining licenses being awarded and 20 more at different stages of approval, he said, adding, the non-tax revenue is projected at Rs 797 Crore in 2025-26.
