2025-26 Telangana Budget consultations to start after Sankranti

Consultations aim to align allocations with Congress government’s welfare and development priorities while addressing fiscal constraints

Hyderabad: With just a few weeks left for the 2025-26 Budget presentation, the Telangana government has expedited the process to formulate the State Budget estimates.

Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is set to commence department-wise meetings along with the Ministers concerned next week to finalise the proposals submitted by various departments.

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The Budget proposals for 2025-26 and revised estimates for 2024-25 have already been uploaded to the Finance Department’s online portal, following directives issued earlier this month.

The consultations, slated to start after Sankranti, aim to align allocations with the Congress government’s welfare and development priorities while addressing fiscal constraints.

The Budget proposals will be refined based on allocations in the Union Budget, to be presented in early February. The State Budget is likely to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly in the third week of February.

Sources in the Finance Department said they were still compiling the proposals and will arrive at an approximate outlay in a week or two. They indicated that the Budget will be tailored to fulfil the Congress’ electoral promises, with an emphasis on welfare and development programmes.

This will be the Congress government’s first comprehensive Budget since assuming office in December last year. Despite having an opportunity to present a full-scale Budget in February last year, the government opted for a Vote-on-Account Budget.

Later in June, a full Budget for 2024-25 was presented with an outlay of Rs 2.91 lakh crore, prioritising agriculture and allied sectors. However, departments faced challenges — either shortage or under-utilisation of funds and planning — due to the rushed process.

The Congress government is facing a major challenge in the form of growing debts. During the current fiscal, the government raised around Rs 40,750 crore through market borrowings.

Proposals have been submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise another Rs 30,000 crore over the last quarter of the financial year, taking the cumulative market borrowings in a single fiscal a whopping Rs 70,750 crore.

Another Rs 30,000 crore was raised through off-Budget borrowings and mortgaging premium land.