Karnataka Budget 2025 highlights: ₹200 movie ticket cap, professional tax reforms, cancer diagnosis unit in Bidar

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented the state budget for 2025-26, estimating total receipts at ₹4,08,647 crore.

The budget projected revenue receipts of ₹2,92,477 crore, including own tax revenue of ₹2,08,100 crore, non-tax revenue of ₹16,500 crore, and central grants amounting to ₹67,877 crore.

Gross borrowings were estimated at ₹1.16 lakh crore, while non-debt capital receipts stood at ₹170 crore.

"Total receipts estimated in budget for 2025-26 is ₹4,08,647 crore," Siddaramaiah said.

The chief minister announced a revenue target of ₹1.2 lakh crore for the Commercial Tax Department and plan to mop up ₹28,000 crore from stamps and registration, ₹15,000 crore from motor vehicle tax, and ₹9,000 crore through royalty collections.

Siddararamiah also proposed amendments to Professional Tax Act to make professional tax administration more convenient and efficient.

"It is proposed to make suitable amendments to the Professional Tax Act to increase the professional tax payable by salary and wages earners from Rs 200 to Rs 300 for the month of February to align with the maximum limit permissible of Rs 2,500 per annum," the CM said in his historic 16th budget speech.

Key highlights of the Karnataka Budget 2025-26:

• Siddaramaiah asserted his government's resolve to reduce the preventable maternal mortality rate to zero and announced that ₹320 crore has been allocated to prevent maternal mortality in the state.

• Nutrition kits, financial incentives, and ‘Vatsalya Kits’ will be distributed to pregnant women in backward districts.

• A state-of-the-art 200-bed hospital will be set up in Bengaluru North Taluk at a cost of ₹150 crore.

• New Community Health Centres (CHCs) will be established in Ponnampet, while PHCs in newly announced taluks will be upgraded to CHCs.

• ₹873 crore allocated under the Kalyana Karnataka Comprehensive Health Scheme to improve health indicators.

• A 400-bed hospital will be constructed in Virajapete, Kodagu, and a 200-bed hospital in Molakalmuru, Chitradurga district.

• A cancer diagnosis unit to be set up in Bidar Government Medical College Hospital.

• Institutions modelled on NIMHANS will be established in Mysuru and Kalaburagi at a cost of ₹100 crore each.

• The Gruha Aarogya Scheme, implemented on a pilot basis in Kolar district to screen and treat six non-communicable diseases, will be extended across Karnataka at the cost of ₹100 crore.

• The Karnataka government announced the disbandment of the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF), declaring the state ‘naxal-free’ following six underground naxals' surrender.

• A ₹10 crore special package will be formulated to integrate surrendered naxals into the mainstream.

• The Cyber Crime Division will be strengthened with a ₹5 crore allocation.

• The Bengaluru Safe City project, worth ₹667 crore, has led to the installation of 7,500 surveillance cameras, 10 drones, and 560 body-worn cameras for law enforcement.

• ₹50 crore allocated under the Police Mobility Scheme to procure 1,000 new vehicles for the Home Department.

• Two Indian Reserve Battalions will be established at Kudugurki near Nandi Hills and in KGF, with ₹80 crore set aside for the initiative.

• The number of police divisions in Bengaluru will be increased from eight to eleven, and bomb detection squads will be set up in Bellary, Davanagere, Mysuru, and Bengaluru Central Zones.

• The Prison Department will receive ₹100 crore for infrastructure development.

• The Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services Department will undergo expansion and modernization with ₹330 crore from the 15th Finance Commission grants.

• The government has capped movie ticket prices at ₹200 across all theatres, including multiplexes.

• An OTT platform dedicated to Kannada films will be developed to promote regional cinema.

• A ₹3 crore allocation has been made to create a repository of Kannada films in digital and non-digital formats.

• The Kannada cinema sector will receive industry status and will benefit from the Industrial Policy incentives.

• The Karnataka Film Academy will develop a multiplex theatre complex in Nandini Layout under the PPP model.

• The long-planned International Film City in Mysuru will proceed, with 150 acres of land transferred for the ₹500 crore project.

• The government will continue its ₹1,500 crore investment in providing eggs and bananas to 53 lakh schoolchildren six days a week to combat malnutrition.

• Ragi health powder mixed with hot milk, which was distributed to schoolchildren three days a week, will be extended to five days a week with a total cost of Rs 100 crore.

• ₹46 crore will be spent on modernising kitchens and purchasing new utensils for mid-day meal programs in 16,347 schools.

Presenting his 16th budget, Siddaramaiah expressed gratitude to the people of Karnataka for the opportunity to lead the state’s financial planning. He said he believed in the aspirations of Lord Buddha, 12th century AD social reformer Basaveshwara and Mahatma Gandhi and made efforts to take a step towards realising an equal society.

“Believing in the aspirations of Buddha, Basava, Gandhi and Ambedkar, and acting accordingly, we have made an effort to take a further step towards realising the dream of an equal society through this budget,” he said in a post on X.