Corpn presents Rs139cr deficit budget for 2025-26

Coimbatore: A spike in investments for a range of infrastructure development work has left a sharper dent in the fiscal health of the city corporation.
The civic body presented a Rs139-crore deficit budget for 2025-26 on Friday, as the total estimated expenditure of Rs4,757 crore surpassed the total estimated revenue of Rs4,617 crore.
While the budget focussed on increasing the revenue, there was an additional thrust on relaying roads, revamping bus stands, constructing skywalks, developing recreational avenues and sports facilities, and enhancing educational infrastructure. For instance, the civic body has planned to set up virtual laboratories and create additional study centres and indoor stadiums in schools.
"This year, we managed to tap maximum grants from the govt for various projects, which was not possible in the previous year. This way, we balanced the revenue and expenditure to a large extent," said corporation commissioner M Sivaguru Prabhakaran.
A senior corporation officer said most of the budget allocation was made for the water supply and road works. "The chief minister had a few months ago announced Rs200 crore allocation for road work, which is part of the current budget. Similar announcements are part of the presented budget. Fund allocations for scheme roads, parks and infrastructural improvements in the education sector have added to the expected shortage," the officer said.
Though it has become a normal practice for the civic body to present a deficit budget, the gap between the revenue and expenditure has widened this year.
On a positive note, the civic body said it had contained this gap to a large extent through prudent planning and kept the deficit under control. This was achieved by increasing the revenue considerably, compared to the previous years.
According to the budget estimates, revenue receipts (taxes and fees) for the 2025-26 financial year is estimated at Rs1,857 crore and the capital receipts (grants, loans and borrowings) at Rs2,759 crore. Similarly, the estimated revenue expenditure is Rs1,327 crore and capital expenditure is Rs3,430 crore.
Another official source pointed out that in the 2024-25 budget, the corporation had a massive increase in the deficit amount to Rs118 crore from just Rs10 crore in the budget before that. However, this year, the deficit amount has increased only by Rs21 crore.