Budget session of Puducherry Assembly set to commence on Monday

Puducherry Assembly Budget session begins with Lt. Governor's address, followed by Chief Minister's Budget presentation.

The Budget session of Puducherry Assembly is set to begin on Monday with the customary address of the Lieutenant Governor.

According to the Assembly Secretariat, the sixth session of the 15th Puducherry Assembly will assemble at 9.30 a.m. and Lieutenant Governor K. Kailashnathan will address the house for the first time after he assumed charge as the titular head of the Union Territory in August last year.

The house will adjourn for the day after the customary address of the Lt. Governor and then re-assemble on Tuesday. Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who handles the Finance portfolio, will present the annual Budget for 2025-26 at 9.30 a.m. on March 12. 

The 2025-26 Budget will be the first annual financial statement of the Puducherry government after the setting up of Consultative Committee for Transformation (earlier Puducherry Planning Board). 

As part of Budget preparations in the past, the Puducherry government used to convene a meeting of the Planning Board under the Chairmanship of the Lt. Governor to decide on the draft of the annual outlay. After fixing the outlay at the meeting, the draft would be forwarded to the Centre for clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Union Finance Ministry before preparing the Budget speech and presentation in the Assembly

This year, the rechristened Consultative Committee for Transformation met under the Chairmanship of the Lt. Governor in January, but as per official accounts the meeting was only to discuss the ongoing projects and future development plans. The media was informed after the meeting on January 28 that the committee would meet again to prepare the draft of the annual outlay. However, there was no official communication to suggest convening of the committee.

“The outlay for the financial year 2025-26 has been fixed and sent to the Centre for approval. The clearance is expected anytime before the commencement of the session,” said an official. The Budget estimate for 2024-25 has been revised from ₹12,700 crore to ₹13,235 crore, another official said adding that the outlay for 2025-26 could be around ₹500 crore more than the revised estimate for the current fiscal.