The Assam government on Friday tabled a Rs 2,85,084 crore budget for the financial year 2026-27. The proposals include raising the tax exemption limit for small tea growers fourfold and lowering VAT on piped natural gas by nearly ten percentage points. Finance Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah, presenting his first budget, said all major welfare schemes launched in the past five years would continue. He announced that individuals practising polygamy would be barred from government benefits, and state employees found guilty of the practice would be dismissed. The government also plans to recruit two lakh people over five years by filling vacancies and creating new posts. A fiscal deficit target of three per cent of the projected GSDP has been set. The agricultural income tax exemption threshold for small tea growers will rise from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Larger taxpayers will again pay the tax from April 2026, with the extra revenue used for tea garden welfare. Orthodox tea output has grown more than 80 per cent in four years. Matcha tea production has begun, and the first consignment sold at nearly Rs 3,000 per kg. The production subsidy for orthodox and specialty tea will increase from Rs 10 to Rs 15 per kg. A new Rs 3 per kg subsidy will support export-oriented Assam CTC tea. VAT on piped natural gas will drop from 14.5 per cent to 5 per cent to encourage cleaner fuel use. More than 13,500 domestic connections and 46 CNG stations already exist. A green cess will apply to stone crushers, coke units, brick kilns, second-hand vehicle transfers, groundwater extraction and other polluting activities. Revenue from the cess will fund afforestation, pollution control and climate measures.
