Assam’s budget utilisation rises to 85% from 58%: Ajanta Neog

GUWAHATI, Feb 20: The rate of budget utilization of Assam has increased to 85 per cent due to elimination of red tape and strengthening of administrative reforms and transparency, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog said in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Replying to the General Discussion on the Budget (Vote on Account) 2026-27 in the Assembly, the minister said, “The rate of budget utilization in Assam was 60-70 per cent. In the 2015-16 financial year, Assam recorded 58 per cent rate in budget utilization. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the rate has increased substantially in the last five years.

“At the same time, own source of revenue collection of Assam has also increased from Rs 2,500 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 30,000 crore in 2025-26,” the minister said.

The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Assam Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2026-27, of amount Rs 62,29,487.30 crore after the discussion.

Explaining Assam’s journey of development under the Sarma government, the Finance Minister said that in the last five years, the size of Assam’s budget also increased significantly.

“The size of the budget during 2015-16 was Rs 72,573 crore. Now with revised estimate, the budget size in 2025-26 will touch the mark of Rs 2 lakh crore. At present, the main source of fund is revenue collection and the second source is the share of Central tax. During the visit of the 16th Finance Commission, we gave detailed presentation on the revenue gap. So, the percentage of share in Central tax and devolution increased in recent times,” Neog said.

According to the minister, with the aim to increase GDP growth, the State government has put special emphasis on agriculture, industry and service sectors.

“It is the duty of the State government to bring back the youths who have migrated to other states in search of employment. So, we are working to strengthen the entrepreneurship and service sector,” she said.

On loan taken by the government, the Finance Minister noted that loan is a dynamic concept and Assam is taking loan as per debt and GSDP ratio and rule of FRBM Act.

“Assam is in the 21st position in the debt GSDP list and the loan taken by the State government is being used as capital expenditure. We have developed different infrastructure by using the loan,” Neog added.

Earlier, participating in the General Discussion, Congress MLA Nurul Huda accused the government of wrongfully taking credit for everything good that has happened to Assam. “The Congress laid the foundation of the Indian economy. But now, the BJP behaves as if all the development has only under their rule," he said.

Huda said that 17.64 lakh families were yet to receive land pattas despite applying under various phases of Mission Basundhara. “Even people whose families have been residing in Assam since before 1951 have not got land pattas,” he said.

Lawrence Islary of UPPL said that the government has focused a lot on the development of the BTR.

AIUDF member Aminul Islam (senior), meanwhile, said that the common people were facing the brunt of price rise, and accused the government of taking loans to fund social welfare schemes for securing political gains.

Manoranjan Talukdar of CPI(M) alleged that over two lakh MSMEs have closed down, rendering lakhs of people unemployed, and called for steps to develop the agriculture sector.

Congress MLA Abdul Batin Khandakar called for measures to remove regional disparity and demanded a special package for development of char areas.

Independent member Akhil Gogoi, BJP’s Bidya Sing Engleng and Rupsing Teron, Congress’s Diganta Barman, Khalil Uddin Mazumder, and AGP’s Bhabendra Nath Bharali also took part in the discussion.