Union Budget 2024 | Modi under pressure as Nitish Kumar seeks Rs 30K crore aid for Bihar

By Ruchi Bhatia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second-biggest ally is demanding Rs 30,000 crore ($3.6 billion) from India’s federal budget this year to help fund projects in Bihar state, according to people familiar with the matter, a test for the coalition government.

The Bihar government, which is led by Janata Dal (United)’s Nitish Kumar, made the request during a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

The government has received the request from Bihar but hasn’t yet decided how much will be allocated to the state this year, one of the people said.

Modi’s biggest ally in the coalition — N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party — has already made a request for more than $12 billion (Rs 1,00,183 crore) in aid over the next few years for Andhra Pradesh state, Bloomberg News reported last week.

The combined fiscal demands from the two coalition parties are equivalent to more than half of the government’s annual food subsidy budget of 2.2 trillion rupees (Rs 2.2 lakh crores). That shows the fiscal pressure Modi is under as he balances the demands of his allies with his goals of curbing government debt. He has some leeway in this year’s budget though, after the central bank paid the government a record dividend and tax revenues surged.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an outright majority for the first time in a decade in recently held elections and is reliant on support from its allies to continue governing. The two coalition partners make up 9.5 per cent of the parliamentary seats held by Modi’s National Democratic Alliance.

Both the BJP’s allies want the federal government to allow them to borrow more in the states that they govern. Fiscal rules stipulate that states limit their borrowing to 3 per cent of the region’s gross domestic product. Bihar has asked for an additional 1 per cent of headroom with no conditions attached, people familiar say, while Andhra Pradesh has requested 0.5 per cent.

A spokesperson for India’s Ministry of Finance didn’t immediately respond to a request for further information. JDU leaders weren’t immediately available to comment.

The government is due to release its budget for the fiscal year through March 2025 on July 23, with Sitharaman pledging to narrow the federal deficit to 5.1 per cent of GDP. Combining the central and provincial budgets, the deficit was estimated at 8.8 per cent in the past fiscal year, according to the International Monetary Fund. S&P Global Ratings said last week that bringing down the combined deficit to below 7 per cent of the GDP could trigger a rating upgrade.

India’s states get the bulk of their income from a share of tax revenue collected by the central government. They are also restricted in their ability to borrow. In Modi’s first term, Bihar received a financial package of 1.25 trillion rupees (Rs 1.25 lakh crores) to pay for farmer welfare and upgrading of roads, railways and airports.

Both Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are facing financial strain, reducing their ability to spend on development projects. Bihar’s spending on salaries, pensions and interest payments makes up more than 40 per cent of the state’s revenue income, according to official data. The north-eastern state is one of the poorest in the country, with per-capita income estimated at about Rs 59,000 in the 2023 fiscal year, less than half the national average.