Siddaramaiah to Present Record 16th Karnataka Budget on March 7

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is set to present his 16th state budget on March 7, marking a significant milestone in his political career. This will be his eighth budget as chief minister, in addition to the eight he previously presented as the state's finance minister. 

The budget presentation will take place following the Governor’s address to both Houses of the Karnataka Legislature on March 3. Discussions on the Governor’s speech will continue for three days before Siddaramaiah unveils the budget. He has stated that he will respond to the budget discussions at the end of March, with the final schedule being determined by the Business Advisory Council.   

Siddaramaiah made these remarks after a meeting with various farmer organizations at Vidhana Soudha as part of the pre-budget consultation process. 

His journey as a budget presenter began in 1994 when he was entrusted with the Finance portfolio in the Janata Dal government. Over the years, he has played a key role in shaping Karnataka’s financial policies, with his last budget as finance minister being presented in 2005 during the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. In terms of the number of budgets presented by Karnataka chief ministers, Siddaramaiah is second only to Ramakrishna Hegde. 

In 2023, he presented a budget with an outlay of ₹3.71 lakh crore, allocating approximately ₹52,000 crore for the Congress government’s five flagship guarantee schemes. With an expected 10% increase in allocation, sources predict that the upcoming budget will have an estimated outlay of ₹4 lakh crore.