With eye on elections, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to present his 15th Budget today

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will present the 2024-25 Budget, which will be his record 15th as finance minister, on Friday.

The budget size is likely to touch Rs 3.80 lakh crore, up from Rs 3.27 lakh crore in 2023-24, with tremendous pressure on Siddaramaiah to look beyond the five guarantees for infrastructure development and asset creation.

Siddaramaiah’s 2024-25 Budget will have one eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and another on the BBMP election, which may happen this year.

For the five guarantees, Siddaramaiah is expected to set aside around Rs 55,000 crore. Through his budget, he may look to spell out how the five schemes have fared over the past year so as to woo beneficiaries ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Apart from the guarantees, Siddaramaiah is expected to announce some major policies aimed at attracting investments in different sectors. He is also likely to increase borrowings.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s pet ‘Brand Bengaluru’ initiative is also expected to figure in the budget.