Karnataka Budget 2023: Liquor excise duty hiked by 20%, says Siddaramaiah

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah while presenting the 14th budget in Bengaluru's Vidhana Soudha announced that the excise duty on liquor has been hiked by 20 per cent. The additional excise duty (AED) on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) has also been hiked by 20 per cent. For beer, the AED has been hiked by 10 per cent taking it 185 per cent from 175 per cent. The Chief Minister has levied 20 per cent on all 18 slabs of excise.

Siddaramaiah, who is presenting his seventh state budget, announced a state budget of Rs 3,27,747 crore, of which Rs 2,50,933 crore has been allocated for revenue expenditure, Rs 54,374 crore for capital expenditure and Rs 22,441 crore for loan repayment.

He also announced allocations for various sectors, including Rs 37,587 crores for Education and rs 24,166 crores for Women and Child Development, which makes up 11 per cent and 7 per cent of the total budget allocation, respectively. The government has proposed to allocate Rs 14,950 crores, which is about 4 per cent  of the total allocation, for Health and Family welfare.

Addressing fund allocations for the five poll guarantees of the Congress party, Siddaramaiah said around Rs 52,000 crore will be spent annually. He also said the guarantees are expected to benefit 1.3 crore families.

While presenting the 2023-2024 budget, he said through the five 'guarantees' (poll promises), the government will be providing an average additional financial assistance of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a month to each household.

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These guarantees encompass various welfare measures, including 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), free distribution of 10 kg of rice to every member of a Below Poverty Line (BPL) household (Anna Bhagya), a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 for unemployed graduate youth, and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders between the ages of 18 and 25 for a duration of two years (YuvaNidhi), as well as free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).

Elaborating on the guarantees, Siddaramaiah said the Anna Bhagya scheme, under which every member of a below poverty line (BPL) household would get 10 kg of free rice, got an allottment of Rs 10,000 crore annually. The scheme is expected to benefit 4.42 crore beneficiaries.

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He added that the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which provides Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family, will be allocated an amount of Rs 24,166 crore for this fiscal.

CM Siddaramaiah added that Rs 30,000 crore has been allotted to the BMRCL's Namma Metro, to further developments in a bid to ease Bengaluru's ongoing traffic issues. Besides, an amount of Rs 45,000 crore for the development works around the capital city.

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