Telangana presents Rs 2.91 lakh crore Budget with focus on guarantees

Hyderabad, July (IANS) Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the Finance portfolio, on Thursday presented the state Budget of Rs 2.91 lakh crore for 2024-25, with focus on welfare and fulfilling the six guarantees of the Congress government.

Presenting the first full Budget of the Congress government in the state Assembly, Vikramarka pegged the revenue and capital expenditure at Rs 2.20 lakh crore and Rs 33,487 crore, respectively.

“The total expenditure proposed for the financial year 2024-25 is Rs 2,91,159 crore; the revenue expenditure is proposed at Rs 2,20,945 crore while the capital expenditure proposed is at Rs 33,487 crore,” he said.

In February, the Finance Minister presented a Rs 2.75 lakh crore vote-on-account Budget, while for 2023-24, the budget size was Rs 2.90 lakh crore.

Vikramarka revealed that Telangana recorded a growth rate of 7.4 per cent during 2023-24 against the national growth rate of 7.6 per cent.

At current prices, Telangana’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2023-24 has been recorded at Rs 14,63,963 crore, 11.9 per cent higher than the previous year.

In 2023-24, the services sector contributed 65.7 per cent, industrial sector 18.5 per cent, while agriculture and allied sectors contributed 15.8 per cent to Telangana’s Gross State Value Added (GSVA).

The per capita income of Telangana was Rs 3,47,229 in 2023-24, Rs 1,64,063 higher than the national per capita income of Rs.1,83,236.

“The substantial rise in debt relative to income growth suggests heavy dependence on borrowing to fund expenditures, potentially endangering fiscal sustainability.

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,” Vikramarka said.

He also mentioned that when the new government was formed in December 2023, the state had a loan burden of Rs 6,71,757 crore. Since then, the government has raised loans of Rs 35,118 crore and repaid loans of Rs 42,892 crore.

“In effect, we have repaid a higher amount of Rs 7,774 crore than the loans we have raised, demonstrating our sincerity towards the people. The previous (BRS) regime reduced the government to such a sad state that loans had to be raised to repay loans,” the Finance Minister said.

He also claimed that despite the extremely difficult financial situation, the government has not ignored the welfare of the people, spending Rs 34,579 crore on various schemes so far.

“We have introduced the Maha Lakshmi Scheme in which women are provided free transportation in RTC buses. We are also providing free electricity up to 200 units, assistance to farmers under Rythu Bharosa, subsidy on rice, etc. We have also made a capital expenditure of Rs 19,456 crore,” he said.

The Finance Minister also made major allocations to implement the poll promises, for agriculture, backward classes welfare, panchayat raj and rural development, municipal administration, and urban development.

The allocation for agriculture and cooperation department has gone up to Rs 49,383 crore from Rs 28,594 crore in 2023-24. The allocation for the Backward Class??es Welfare Department has more than doubled to Rs 9,200 crore.

The allocations for the welfare of minorities and tribals have also increased substantially.

The Finance Minister proposed Rs 723 crore for the LPG cylinder at Rs 500 scheme, and Rs 2,418 crore for free electricity up to 200 units (Gruha Jyothi Scheme).

Referring to the recently launched scheme for farm loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh, the Finance Minister said despite the financial distress, the government is systematically garnering Rs 31,000 crore needed for this scheme.

Claiming that the new government has so far issued appointment orders for 31,768 jobs, the Finance Minister said the government is committed to creating new jobs in government and government-owned corporations/societies.

“We resolve to set right the irregularities that took place in the recruitment processes before. We will issue a job calendar in the near future,” he added.