Rs 48,96.32-crore deficit interim budget presented in TN assembly

Presenting a deficit budget of Rs 48,696.42 crore, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Tuesday announced a slew of packages ahead of the election with the newly-launched Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS), replacing the Old Pension Scheme, for government employees receiving Rs 11,000 crore.

With the DMK government coming under fire for diverting the funds from the Special Component Plan (SCP) for SCs/STs for the Rs 1000 per month for women household heads, the Adi Dravidar (SC) Welfare Department had been earmarked Rs 3,934 crore. The Minister said translation of Dr BR Ambedkar’s works was on and already 27 volumes have been published.

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While a new Renewable Energy Policy is on the anvil, the Energy Department has been allocated Rs 18,091 crore in the interim budget and the MSME sector has received Rs 1,943 crore. With the Highways Department getting Rs 21,132 crore, new TIDEL Parks will be established at tier-two cities at a co0st of Rs 388 crore.

Listing the achievements of the flagship schemes of the government, particularly for women, he said the free bus travel for women had helped each of them save Rs 888 per month.

Agriculture Minister MRK Panneerselvam, presented the interim agriculture budget for 2026-27 for Rs 47,248.24 crore and said that the government had arrested the decline of cultivable land.

The opposition has dubbed the interim budget as a cosmetic exercise, hiding the failure of the DMK government. While Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president Anbumani had charged the Stalin government with pushing the state into a vicious debt trap. “In the last one year alone, the government has borrowed 1.84 lakh crore, yet there is a revenue deficit. The present DMK government had borrowed Rs 4.96 lakh crore, the highest of any government since 1952. This proves the ineptness of the regime,” he said in a statement.

Describing the interim budget as akin to an ear-piercing ceremony for babies (ear piercing is an euphemism for cheating), AIADMk general secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami questioned the steep fall of nearly Rs 26,000 crore in the State’s Own Tax Revenue and asked why the minister had not offered any convincing explanation. “The fiscal deficit numbers are equally alarming. The deficit for 2024-25, initially estimated at Rs 96,000 crore, has risen to Rs 1.01 lakh crore. The interim budget estimates place the 2026-27 deficit at Rs 1.22 lakh crore, which is likely to increase and this is reckless financial management,” he said.