Uttar Pradesh, one of the largest states of the country, is always in the news. These days UP is being discussed because of its first economic survey. Which was placed in the UP Assembly on Monday by the state Finance Minister Suresh Khanna. If you turn the pages of UP Economic Survey, many such shocking figures come to light, which may surprise you too. Looking at the figures, it shows that the annual budget of UP has become more than the GDP of many countries. This is a first layer. If we go a little deeper into this, we will come to know that the annual budget of Uttar Pradesh can enter the GDP of top 80 countries of the world. In which a double increase has been seen in the last 8 years. Let us also tell you what was the budget for the financial year 2026 and how it doubled in the last 8 years.
UP’s budget beats Panama’s economy
Panama is the 77th largest economy in the world in terms of global GDP. Whose total GDP is 90.4 billion dollars. The special thing is that the annual budget of UP is much more than this. If we look at the first economic survey of UP, the state budget in the financial year 2026 is Rs 8.33 lakh crore i.e. 91.9 billion dollars. Only Panama is not in this list. In fact, the GDP of Tanzania, Belarus and Venezuela is also less than the annual budget of UP. Now you can understand how big the annual budget of Uttar Pradesh is. According to this budget, the state government is spending more than Rs 1.5 crore every minute in the financial year 2026.
Budget doubled in 8 years
According to the Economic Survey, the budget size of Uttar Pradesh has increased from Rs 3.47 lakh crore in 2016-17 to an estimated Rs 8.33 lakh crore in 2025-26, which is more than double. During the same period, Capex has increased from Rs 69,790 crore to Rs 1,47,720 crore. Presenting the report on the first day of the budget session on Monday, Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said that there has been an increase of Rs 4.86 lakh crore in the budget in the last nine years, while between 2008-09 and 2016-17 it had increased by Rs 2.34 lakh crore. The survey described the fiscal position of the state as balanced and also said that the government loan-to-GSDP ratio has declined from 29.3 percent in 2016-17 to 28.0 percent in 2024-25, which is lower than the national and global average.
Record allocation to health sector
Allocation in the health sector has reached a record Rs 46,728.48 crore, which is 6.1 percent of the total budget. The report claims that expenditure on health by citizens has reduced and medical infrastructure has been strengthened. The number of institutional deliveries increased from 34.74 lakh in 2021-22 to 41 lakh in 2024-25, showing an increase of 18.02 percent. In 2024-25, the share of institutional deliveries was 96.12 percent of the total deliveries, while non-institutional deliveries declined by 50.44 percent to 1.66 lakh.
The survey said children aged 0-5 years are being provided free vaccination against 12 life-threatening diseases, including polio, tuberculosis, measles and Japanese encephalitis, and pregnant women are being given tetanus vaccination. Khanna said the number of medical colleges has increased from 36 in 2017 to 81 by the end of 2025, which includes 45 government and 36 private institutions. There are currently 38 state universities and 52 private universities in the state.
Tourism and Agriculture
Regarding tourism, the report said that Uttar Pradesh has recorded a 2.4 times increase in tourist arrivals, reaching 156.18 crore in 2025. The report also said that a record 66.30 crore tourists participated in the Prayagraj Mahakumbh. In the agriculture sector, its contribution to the state economy increased from 24 per cent in 2017-18 to 24.9 per cent in 2024-25. Food grain production to reach 737.4 lakh metric tonnes in 2024-25, increasing the state’s share in national production from 18.1 percent to 20.6 percent. Gross value addition per hectare increased from Rs 0.98 lakh in 2017-18 to Rs 1.73 lakh in 2024-25. The share of paddy in the agricultural gross value of the state is 13.1 percent, in which the area and production have increased by 19.4 percent and 23.6 percent respectively.
Food Processing Units
The report said that there are about 65,000 food processing units operating in the state, employing about 2.55 lakh youth, and Uttar Pradesh is emerging as a hub of food processing units. According to the Periodic Labor Force Survey 2023-24, 53.2 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture and allied sectors, which includes 78.8 percent working women and 44 percent working men. Khanna also told the House that a zero-tolerance policy towards crime has been implemented to strengthen the safety of women.