Revanth Reddy’s Rs 8-lakh-crore debt claim crumbles under budget data
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s claim that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi left Telangana with Rs 8 lakh crore debt faces contradictions from official data, which shows significantly lower public debt, while highlighting the Congress government’s substantial recent borrowings
Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s sweeping claim in the Assembly that the previous BRS government pushed Telangana into a debt trap of more than Rs 8 lakh crore is at odds.
His claims on the floor of the House contradict with data furnished in his own government’s budget documents and data placed before Parliament last year. Instead, the narrative exposed the Congress government’s borrowing spree.
Replying during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s Address last week, Revanth Reddy said the State had inherited loans of only about Rs 69,000 crore at the time of formation in 2014-15.
He argued that total liabilities had ballooned under the previous BRS regime to Rs 8.11 lakh crore by 2023-24 after including borrowings of special purpose vehicles (SPVs), corporations, guarantees and ways-and-means advances along with regular government loans.
The Chief Minister also admitted that the present Congress government had raised about Rs 3.47 lakh crore in the last 28 months.
According to his statement, this included Rs 1.62 lakh crore market borrowings under the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limits, about Rs 7,995 crore in government-guaranteed loans serviced by the State, nearly Rs 1.54 lakh crore in government-guaranteed loans raised by SPVs and corporations but serviced by them, and Rs 23,119 crore in non-guaranteed loans.
Finance experts pointed out that only FRBM borrowings and government-serviced guaranteed loans are treated as part of the State’s public debt. Loans raised by SPVs and corporations that repay their own borrowings are not counted as liabilities of the government. By clubbing all these categories together, the Chief Minister’s calculation inflated the total debt figure far beyond the official accounts.
Data furnished by the Centre also weakened the claim. Replying to a question from BJP MP M Raghunandan Rao in August last year, union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha that Telangana’s public debt at the time of formation was Rs 69,603 crore.
By the end of 2023-24, the total public debt stood at about Rs 3.5 lakh crore, including Rs 3.14 lakh crore in open market loans along with smaller components of Central loans and statutory liabilities which is far below the Rs 8 lakh crore burden cited in the Assembly.
Audited accounts presented in the recent State budget documents reinforced this position. The outstanding public debt was estimated at Rs 5.03 lakh crore in the revised estimates for 2025-26. Government guarantees, including loans raised by SPVs, corporations and other agencies, are pegged at about Rs 3.01 lakh crore. Together, these bring the total outstanding liabilities of the State to about Rs 8.04 lakh crore at the end of the current fiscal, but not at the end of the previous BRS government’s tenure, as suggested in the Chief Minister’s statement.
Comparing the borrowing trend, the previous BRS government raised Rs 3.5 lakh crore of outstanding debt (FRBM loans) and another Rs 1.47 lakh of government-guaranteed (non-FRBM) loans over a decade.
But the current Congress regime borrowed Rs 1.62 lakh crore FRBM loans and another Rs 1.54 lakh crore non-FRBM loans. Thus, the Congress raised nearly half of the FRBM loans taken by BRS in 10 years within 28 months, with non-FRBM borrowings accounting for more than loans raised during the previous regime.
Facts
Revanth Reddy’s claims vs official data
Claim: Previous BRS government left Rs 8.11 lakh crore debt in 2023-24.
Centre’s data: Total public debt around Rs 3.5 lakh crore, including Rs 3.14 lakh crore open market loans and other statutory liabilities.
Budget document: Public debt (2025-26 RE) is about Rs 5.03 lakh crore along with outstanding guarantees and other liabilities of about Rs 3.01 lakh crore.
Total outstanding liabilities: Near Rs 8.04 lakh crore as per revised estimates of 2025-26, not in 2023-24.
Loans raised by Congress govt in 28 months: Rs 3.47 lakh crore in 28 months.
