Expenditures for interest payments, salary payments, pensions and subsidies continue to make up a large part of the state’s expenditures.
The state incurred ₹1.1 lakh crore during the 2025-26 financial year for interest payments, salaries/wages, pensions and subsidies, mainly for supply of free power to the agriculture sector, as shown in preliminary data released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. This is against a total income including borrowings of ₹2.6 crore.
Of this, interest payments accounted for ₹29,679 crore, salaries/wages (₹47,400 crore), pensions (₹19,371 crore) and subsidies (₹14,549 crore). Excluding the subsidy, which was budgeted at ₹ 16,583 crore for the year, the expenditure on the remaining three heads has significantly exceeded the budget estimates, indicating the tight financial situation the state is facing.
For example, interest payments were estimated at ₹19,639 crore for the year, but the state ended up disbursing ₹29,679 crore, more than ₹10,000 crore more than the year-end budget estimates. The same applies to the payment of pensions, including social security pensions, which exceeded ₹ 19,000 crore against an estimated ₹ 13,109 crore.
The state faced a similar situation during the financial year 2024-25 when it spent ₹26,688 crore as interest (Budget estimates ₹17,729 crore), salaries/wages ₹42,245 crore (₹40,041 crore (₹11,954 crore BE), pensions ₹11,950 crore BE) and subsidies ₹11,508 crore (Rs. 16,242 crore BE).
Interestingly, in March alone, the state saw an increase in non-tax revenue of ₹ 9,881 crore compared to ₹ 9,105 crore recorded in the first 11 months. Senior officials termed it an accounting adjustment in the sense that sums deposited on behalf of corporations or state-run bodies would be accumulated in non-tax revenue if they remained unused or not fully exhausted.
Published – 14 May 2026 23:28 IST
