Budget session of Maharashtra legislature ends; monsoon session from June 10

Pic: PTI File

The week-long budget session of the Maharashtra legislature ended here on Friday with the passage of the interim budget in the Assembly.

The monsoon session of the legislature will commence in Mumbai from June 10 after the Lok Sabha polls and will see presentation of a full-fledged budget, presiding officers of both houses announced, newswire PTI reported.

The budget session began on February 26 and an interim budget was presented in the Assembly the next day by Finance Minister Ajit Pawar.

The Governor's address to both houses took place on February 20 during a day-long special session of the legislature where a bill granting 10 per cent separate quota to the Maratha community in government jobs and educational institutes was unanimously passed.

An interim budget, instead of a full one, was presented in view of the Lok Sabha polls which are likely to be held in April-May. An interim budget outlines the government's expenditure and revenue proposals for a few months until a full-fledged budget is presented.

During his budget speech, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that Maharashtra is on track to achieve its goal of a USD 1 Trillion economy.

Ajit Pawar, who is also the state's Finance and Planning Minister, presented the Interim Budget 2024-2025 on Tuesday and announced a slew of proposals while making allocations for expenditure over the next four months before the full budget is tabled.

Pawar said that the government is committed to attract more investments to achieve the target of a USD 1 Trillion state economy. "The State's policy is to achieve sustainable, environment-friendly and inclusive development. We are effectively implementing the developmental policies to increase the size of the State's economy to one trillion dollars as per the Report of the Maharashtra Economic Advisory Council, in accordance with the resolution of the Hon'ble Prime Minister to make India a developed nation by the year 2047," he said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Friday said that the state is ranked first in Foreign Direct Investment by securing over Rs 1 lakh crore of overseas fund flows and trumping the next three states on the list by a significant margin,.

Speaking in the Legislative Council, Fadnavis said Maharashtra received investment of Rs 1,00,112 crore between April and December, newswire PTI reported.

"This is important because the states we say there is a competition with like Karnataka has secured investment of Rs 30,219 crore, Gujarat Rs 48,410 crore, Delhi Rs 31,361 crore. If the FDI of these states are combined, then it comes to around Rs 1,09,000 crore, while Maharashtra alone has secured investment of Rs 1 lakh crore," he said in the House.

The FDI data comes as major relief to the Eknath Shinde government, which has been battling opposition allegations that big ticket projects were leaving Maharashtra for other states. (With inputs from agencies)