As the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in Delhi with a decisive mandate, all eyes are on its ability to deliver on the plethora of promises the party made in its three-part manifesto titled ‘Viksit Delhi Sankalp Patra’.
Among other promises, the new government is set to give a monthly aid of ₹2,500 for women in Delhi under the Mahila Samridhi Yojana, LPG cylinders priced at ₹500 for underprivileged women, hike in senior citizen pension, and establishment of Atal Canteens providing meals at ₹5. Besides these, it would also need to continue welfare schemes initiated by the AAP government such as free electricity, water connection and more.
As per the State’s recent available budget of FY25, the national capital was in a revenue surplus and had its fiscal deficit controlled at less than 1 per cent of the GDP. Delhi’s GSDP (at constant prices) grew at 7.4 per cent in FY24 (RE), in line with India’s overall growth. Delhi’s per capita GSDP (current prices) of around ₹513,131 in FY24 (RE), is also one among the highest in India and double that of national per capita income. Fiscal deficit was 0.7 per cent in FY24 (RE) and was budgeted at 0.6 per cent for FY25.
Stagnating revenue
However, stagnating revenue receipts in the last few fiscals are a concern. It was ₹62,703 crore in FY23, ₹61,406 crore in FY24 (RE) and is budgeted at ₹64,142 crore in FY25. However, in the last two fiscals, 90 per cent its revenue receipts have come from own tax sources. But, own tax revenue is also seeing slow growth with just 6.4 per cent growth anticipated in FY25. Furthermore, Delhi’s capex saw a steep decline from ₹8,338 crore in FY24 (RE) to the year of polls when it was budgeted at₹5,919 crore in FY25(BE).
“In the case of Delhi, some components of expenditure are taken care of at the central government level, and so they have always had a leeway to spend on healthcare and education related schemes. Also, infrastructure in Delhi has been relatively much better than other States due to it being the capital. As a result, capex has always been low and not a key priority,” Paras Jasrai, Senior Economic Analyst, India Ratings & Research, said. “With both the Centre and State governments being from same party, availing loans from Centre should be easier. However despite their fiscal position, it will not be easy to fulfill all promises and schemes in one go and will be likely phased out,” Jasrai added.