‘Telangana achieved economic growth and welfare simultaneously’

Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on new initiatives in Finance and Planning, B Vinod Kumar explained how Telangana had achieved high growth in GSDP and per capita income

Hyderabad: Economic growth and welfare of people are like the two wheels of the State which have been achieved simultaneously and the way forward is to continue with integrated development on all fronts, said B Vinod Kumar, vice chairman, Planning Board on Saturday.

Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on new initiatives in Finance and Planning organised by the Finance and Planning Department and Centre for Economic and Social Studies on the occasion of State Formation Day celebrations here, he explained how the State had achieved high growth in GSDP and per capita income. A great transformation has happened in the state in terms of its development. The crucial infrastructure like power and water were created adequately. The policies of the state in all sectors have resulted in high growth, he said.

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Special Chief Secretary, K. Ramakrishna Rao, explained that reforms were undertaken for seamlessly conducting the financial transactions in the form of integrated financial management system in the State. This has served as the platform for successful implementation of development and welfare programmes with safety and security features embedded. Simultaneously the Planning Department also has begun the process of collecting high quality data on Key performing indicators in the domains of Health, Education, Nutrition and Socio-economic Survey indicators. This data on outcome indicators would help in effective planning by various departments, he added.

Delivering the key note address on Telangana Development: Achievement and Prospects, Prof C H Hanumantha Rao said that with the formation of Telangana State, the immediate gain was its command over public revenues generated in Telangana. Involved in the protracted struggle for achieving statehood, the political leadership headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao took up the challenge of development with rare sense of commitment and determination.

Accordingly the State achieved high rate of growth in GSDP than the national average growth rate in GDP so that per capita annual income in Telangana is significantly higher at Rs 3.17 lakh than the national average per capita annual income at 1.71 lakh. The high growth in agriculture and allied sectors, made possible with high investment in irrigation through mission Kakatiya and Kaleshwaram multi-stage lift irrigation project enabled wider sharing of benefits. Similarly industry and service sectors have witnessed dynamism in growth.

Other welfare measures such as higher cash support for girl children at birth, cash support for marriage purpose, pensions for old age and single women, nutrition kits to adolescent girls, pregnant women and mothers have contributed to even wider distribution of gains of growth and social empowerment.

Dr GR Reddy, advisor (Finance) said the fiscal indicators of the State are well within limits. Capital expenditure is three times higher in Telangana than other states as it is required to make up for the lag in infrastructure. The quality of expenditure is important for debt sustainability and the higher capital and development expenditure has started generating own resources currently and is expected to generate even in future. The fiscal deficit of the state is very much under limit.

Prof Hanumantha Rao was felicitated on the occasion.