Odisha submits Rs 12,59,148 cr demand to Finance Commission for 2026-31 period

Bhubaneswar : The Odisha government has presented a demand of Rs 12,59,148 crore for Odisha for the five years 2026-31.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said this while making a statement to the media after holding discussions with the 16th Finance Commission today. Summarizing the demands of the state government, the Chief Minister said that Rs 9,88,422 crore has been demanded for meeting the pre-devolution revenue deficit, Rs 1,10,434 crore for meeting the state specific needs, Rs 1,00,036 crore for grants to rural and urban local bodies, Rs 31,004 crore for the State Disaster Management Fund and Rs 29,252 crore for the State Disaster Relief Fund.

The Chief Minister said that he had constructive discussions with the Commission on various financial aspects of the state. “The demands have been presented before the Commission based on the developmental needs of the state, financial capacity and the proposed financial transfer mechanism. We have also made a written representation in the form of a memorandum before the Commission based on all the financial aspects and needs of the state,’ he said.

The Chief Minister expressed the hope that the Commission will consider our presentation favourably. Elaborating on the basis of the state’s major claims before the commission, the Chief Minister said that currently, 41% of the Central Government’s tax revenue is being distributed to the states. We have demanded that this be increased from 41% to 50%.

The share of the central government’s tax revenue that is distributed to the states is the share of the states and it is distributed among the states based on a fixed formula, out of which Odisha gets 4.528pc. “We have demanded to increase Odisha’s share to 4.964pc” he said.
The 16th Finance Commission has proposed to provide 2pc of the Gross Revenue

Receipt estimated by the Centre for the period 2026-31 as grant to Rural and Urban Local Bodies. This will provide financial assistance to the Rural and Urban Local Bodies of Odisha, the Chief Minister said and added that institutions will be able to get more financial support from the Central Government.

“The central government bears 75pc of the annual grant for the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the remaining 25pc is borne by the state government. We have claimed that the central government bears 100pc of this,” he said. Apart from this, the Chief Minister informed that proposals have been made to the Commission for recommending grants for specific purposes such as health, water supply and sanitation, and old age security, etc.

The 16th Finance Commission, chaired by Dr. Arvind Panagariya, is visiting Odisha from February 4 to 7. Along with the Chief Minister, the meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Development Commissioner Anu Garg, State Finance Secretary Shaswat Mishra, along with officials of the Finance Department and heads of administration of various departments of the state.