Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ayodhya welcomed by UP CM Adityanath Yogi
Credit: X/@myogiadityanath
The Interim Budget for the upcoming fiscal year will soon be out with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set to present the budget on Feburary 1.
One of the key figures mentioned in the budget document is the total revenue that the government collects, both through central and state taxes, and then the allocation of funds among the states and Union Territories (UT).
India has 28 states and eight UTs.
This is how Union government cut the pie when it came to revenue sharing.
Uttar Pradesh was the state to which the Centre was most generous. The state, governed by BJP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, was allocated Rs 1,83,237 crore for the last fiscal year, 2023-24. The amount was almost Rs 80,000 crore more than the next state on the list, Bihar which got allocated around 1 lakh crore.
But the thing that is important to keep in mind in UP's case is that the state is a large one with around 24 crore people. To put into context, consider this fact: If UP were a country, it would be the fifth most populous one in the world.
Bihar, India's second most populous state, has also been allocated a big sum by the Union Government.
Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal were both allocated in the ballpark of 75-80 thousand crore.
Maharashtra, the richest state in the country and Rajasthan, the biggest state in country in terms of area, were both given just over Rs 60,000 crore.
States of Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat were allocated in the ballpark of around Rs 35,000 to 45,000 crore.
Among the northeastern states, Assam got the most — around Rs 30,000 crore from the Centre.
In recent times, we have seen some politicians, notably Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, bring up the point that South Indian states are the ones who are bringing in the revenue, but when it comes to allocation, it is the states such as UP and Bihar who get the bigger share.