Sops announced by several states in their 2024-25 Budgets may divert resources away from critical social and economic infrastructure development, an RBI article said on Tuesday. The gross fiscal deficit as per cent of budget estimate moderated in April-September 2024-25 over H1:2023-24 in case of both Centre and states, primarily on account of robust receipts, deceleration in their revenue expenditure growth and decline in capital expenditure, the article published in December RBI Bulletin said. This provides fiscal room to them to boost capex in the latter half of 2024-25 which would aid in sustaining the post pandemic gains in expenditure quality and support medium-term growth prospects. However, several states have announced sops in their 2024-25 Budgets; such spending may divert resources away from critical social and economic infrastructure development, it said. Many states, including Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand have announced sops including free electricity to