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Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender has presented a ₹1,74,454-crore Budget for the financial year 2018-19, which is 16.6 per cent over the Budget estimates for the year 2017-18. A quarter of the allocations go to agriculture, allied sectors and irrigation.
The irrigation sector gets ₹25,000 crore and Rythu Lakshmi scheme, which is aimed at providing financial help of ₹8,000 an acre to farmers, gets ₹12,000 crore for 2018-19.
Own tax revenue
A sum of ₹500 crore has been allocated for Farmers’ Insurance Scheme, which seeks to provide a cover of ₹5 lakh to farmers. “Despite the fallout of demonetisation and initial problems associated with the introduction of GST, the State’s own tax revenue registered a growth of 18.25 per cent in the 11 months of the current financial year,” he said.
While the State’s own tax revenue is pegged at ₹73,751 crore, the share in Central taxes is put at ₹19,207 crore and the Central grant component at ₹29,01 crore.
The revenue expenditure will be ₹1,25,454 crore for the year 2018-19. The capital expenditure is put at ₹33,369 crore and fiscal deficit at ₹29,077 crore, which is 3.45 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Revenue surplus is estimated at ₹5,520 crore.
Wider tax base
Presenting his fifth Budget on Thursday, the Finance Minister said the government is confident of shoring up financial resources to meet the expenditure targets. He expects a wider tax base and resultant increase in GST contributions and resource mobilisation through borrowings to plug the gap.
Echoing the observations made in the Socio Economic Outlook - 2018, Rajender said the State had inherited a lopsided and a precarious economy that grew at a dismal 3-5 per cent rate.
“There was acute shortage of power to the agriculture, industry and domestic segments. Agriculture sector was utterly neglected in the combined State,” the outlook said.
GSDP growth
The minister said the financial condition has improved significantly in the last four years after the formation of the State.
As against the growth rate of 4.2 per cent in the region during 2013-14, the growth rate in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) went up to 6.8 per cent in 2014-15. The GSDP for 2018-19 is pegged at 10.4 per cent. The Finance Minister said the State could achieve higher growth rates because of increased focus on power and irrigation that resulted in the turnaround in the manufacturing sector and rural economy. The State could achieve a growth rate of 7.6 per cent in the manufacturing sector in 2017-18. The agri and allied sector has witnessed a growth rate of 6.9 per cent in 2017-18.
The Budget allocated ₹1,469 crore for purchasing land to be distributed to dalits.
Debt management
Denying Opposition allegations that the State’s loan burden had crossed the ₹2 lakh crore mark under the TRS regime, Rajender said the revised estimates for outstanding liabilities for 2017-18 were at ₹1,51,133 crore as against ₹72,000 crore in 2013-14.
The per capita income of the State at current prices is ₹1.75 lakh in 2017-18 as against the national average of ₹1.12 lakh.
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