If the figures of the budget of the Punjab government are getting out of your understanding, then we explain them in easy language. How much budget has the government made? Where will this money be brought from? Where will it spend the most? What are you getting in the budget? You will be able to understand all this easily.
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Harpal Cheema presented the fourth budget as Finance Minister. The Punjab government will spend Rs 2.36 lakh crore by the next financial year on the theme of replacing Punjab. This money has been kept for the development of cities and villages as well as main sectors like drug addiction, electricity subsidy, education, agriculture, industry.
However, the highest expenditure in the budget is being paid on paying interest of salary, pension and loan. The government is spending 65 paise for 1 rupee in education, salary, pension and repayment of loans. Apart from this, there is a financial burden of more than 17 thousand 606 crores on the government to complete the free power scheme (domestic and agriculture). Punjab is taking so much loan to meet the schemes that it is about one and a half times the budget. The Punjab government has a loan of 3 lakh 74 thousand 737 crore. At the same time, a loan of Rs 1.24 lakhs comes to the per capita.
How do states get tax from the center
The state fixes the tax and help from the Center. Earlier the state governments used to charge several indirect taxes at their level, but after the implementation of GST, the center’s stake in the collection of indirect tax has also increased. However, the center pays taxes as compensation for the loss in revenue to the states.
The Finance Commission recommends how much a state will get from the central taxes. Article 280 of the Constitution provides for the formation of Finance Commission. States are given part of the central taxes by looking at the efforts made to reduce the deficit along with demographic performance, income, population, forest, ecology and tax raising.
At the same time, the help provided to the state government from the Center is also fixed. Then where does the state earning from? Understand it from the slide below …
Now we understand where the government spends money
The question raises that if the government plans to spend one rupee in the budget, then how does it distribute one rupee, that is, where it goes. Think of it like this …If the government has kept Rs 1 in the budget, then 65 paise out of it is being spent on salary, pension, repayment, education and electricity subsidy. The remaining 35 paise is being spent in health and other sectors.
The government also arranges money to spend. This money comes from taxes from state GST, VAT, fee and liquor. Most of the money comes from State GST. This is 26.49% of the budget i.e. about ₹ 8 lakh 91 thousand 301 crore. Similarly, the government gets Rs 10,576 crore from auction of liquor contracts. That is, 4.48% of the total budget comes from excise.
Punjab government more loans than budget Punjab is constantly drowning in debt. AAP government Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema has described the debt status on the state in the budget of 2026-26. According to the budget document, the state has a loan of Rs 3 lakh 74 thousand 737 crore, which has increased by Rs 25,927 crore as compared to 2024.
At present, Punjab has 42.05 percent debt on Punjab. The population of Punjab is about 3 crore according to the 2011 census, according to which every person is a debt of 1 lakh 24 thousand 912. However, this debt is due to the borrowing taken by the government and not a personal debt.
Debt is increasing in the process of completing free schemes In Punjab, this debt is being taken to complete various schemes. 17,606 crore rupees are going on electricity subsidy as a big expense. In this, the government is giving more domestic electricity to farmers for tubewells. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that 90 percent of people in Punjab are availing free electricity. Apart from this, big money is also being spent on women’s free bus travel. According to the Finance Minister, in 2024-25, women have traveled 12 crore free in Punjab.
