Telangana presents Rs 2.91L cr budget

T’gana Budget Highlights:

• Telangana faces a fiscal deficit of Rs 49,255 cr
• Rs 17,730 cr allocated for interest payments
• Rs 72,659 cr earmarked for agriculture
• Rs 21,292 cr allocated for education, Rs 22,301 cr for irrigation
• Rs 10,000 cr earmarked for Hyderabad development

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Thursday presented a Rs 2.91 lakh crore state budget for 2024-25, with the total revenue expected to be Rs 2.21 lakh crore and capital expenditure Rs 33,487 crore.

In the past 10 years, the state has racked up an overall debt of Rs 6.71 lakh crore, according to Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Ministry In-charge Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka who tabled the budget in the assembly.

The total revenue has been estimated at Rs 2,90,814 crore, including Open Market Loans of over Rs 57,000 crore. Of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 17,730 crore would go towards interest payments during the fiscal. The state’s fiscal deficit has been pegged at Rs 49,255.41 crore in the 2024-25 budget, while it showed a revenue surplus of Rs 297.42 crore. The substantial rise in debt relative to income growth suggests heavy dependence on borrowings to fund expenditure, potentially endangering fiscal sustainability, Bhatti said. The persistent rise in debt far out-stripping income gains suggests that without stringent fiscal reforms, Telangana’s economic health could be at risk, necessitating measures to balance expenditure with revenue generation and reduce dependence on borrowing, he added.

“Telangana’s debt has reached Rs 6.71 lakh crore mark. In the last 10 years, the state government debt has increased by 10 times without any development proportionate to that,” the minister said.

The state government estimates that it will make Rs 1,38,181.26 crore revenue on its own and get Rs 35,208.44 in non-tax revenue and Rs 26,216.38 crore in tax revenue from Telangana’s central share. Among allocations, Telangana has proposed to set apart Rs 72,659 crore for agriculture, Rs 21,292 crore for on education and Rs.22,301 crore for irrigation. Rs 29,816 crore has been set apart for the Panchayath Raj and Rural Development department.

The budget has also allocated Rs 10,000 crore for the development of the capital city of Hyderabad and Rs11,468 crore for the health department. After the Congress government took over, Rs 35,118 crore debt has been raised and loans of Rs 42.892 crore -- including principal and interest -- have been repaid, Bhatti said.

“It was a huge challenge for the newly-formed Congress government to manage the state which was in a financial shambles. However, we started our administration by controlling frivolous expenditure and with a sense of financial discipline,” the minister said.

He said the state government has made an attempt to streamline the system and to pay salaries and pensions in a timely manner to 3.69 lakh government employees and 2.87 lakh pensioners from March 2024. At current prices, Telangana’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2023-24 stands at Rs14,63,963 crore, which is 11.9 per cent.