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Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao presented an annual Budget of ₹1,82,914 crore for the year 2020-21 in the State Assembly on Sunday. The Budget for last year was at ₹1.46-lakh crore.
“The Budget has been prepared by taking into various ground realities in the economy and reflects the overall development perceptive of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao,’’ the Minister said in his Budget speech.
The Budget envisages a revenue expenditure of ₹1,38,669 crore while investment expenditure has been pegged at ₹22,061 crore. The revenue surplus and fiscal deficit have been projected at ₹4,482 crore and ₹33,191 crore, respectively.
Despite recessionary trends, agriculture and farmers’ welfare are being given imporatnce, Harish Rao said. The Budget has allocated ₹14,000 crore for ‘Rythu Bandhu’ programme which gives ₹10,000 per acre to a farmer for input costs. Irrigation figured prominently with an allocation of ₹11,054 crore with a special focus on micro irrigation.
Loan waiver
A loan waiver for farmers has also been announced. All loans below ₹25,000 for about 5.83 lakh farmers in the State will be waived. The Budget made an allocation of ₹1,198 crore in this regard.
In a relief to the SC/STs, households that consume power up to 101 units will no longer have to pay any charges. Under special SC development fund, the Finance Minister announced ₹16,534.97 crore and ₹9,771 crore under special ST development fund.
The FM announced ₹1,723 crore for education department. Hyderabad, which is being developed as a global city, got a special allocation of ₹10,000 crore.
Revenue down
Referring to the challenges, Harish Rao said the Budget was prepared against the backdrop of overall economic slowdown gripping the Indian economy.
“There is a reduction in tax devolution and other transfers to the State from the Centre, and decline in the growth of State revenues,” he said.
The growth of the State’s own revenues in 2019-20 (till February end) is estimated to be at 6.3 per cent, much below the growth of 16.1 per cent achieved in 2018-19.
In addition, due to recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, share of Telangana in Central tax devolution decreased to 2.13 per cent from 2.43 per cent resulting in a loss of ₹2,384 crore for the year 2020-21.
State’s economy
According to the advanced estimates, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2019-20 is estimated at ₹9,69,604 crore at current prices registering a growth of 12.6 per cent over the previous year. Because of economic slowdown, this was less than 14.3 per cent registered in 2018-19.
The per capita income in the State is higher than that of the country. It is estimated at ₹2,28,216 as against ₹1,35,050 at the national level.
Industry, employment
Under TS-iPASS scheme, 12,427 industries obtained permission. “Through this, Telangana attracted investments to the extent of ₹2,04,000 crore. Employment was created for 14 lakh people,’’ Rao said.
The Budget proposed ₹1,500 crore towards industrial incentives and ₹1,988 crore for development of industrial sector.
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