Telangana: Congress presents Rs.2.91 lakh crore budget for 2024-25

Total revenues were estimated at ₹2,90,814 crore, including over ₹57,000 crore in open market loans.

Hyderabad: The State government on Thursday presented its maiden full-scale budget with an outlay of Rs.2,91,159 crore for the financial year of 2024-25. This is around Rs.15,000 crore more than the ‘Vote on Account’ budget of Rs 2.76 lakh crore presented by the government in February earlier this year and marginally higher than the Rs.2.9 lakh crore introduced by the previous BRS government for 2023-24.

The State’s total estimated revenues are Rs.2,90,814 crore, which includes Rs.2,21,242.23 crore through revenue receipts. Another Rs.69,572.48 crore is proposed for mobilisation through capital receipts including over Rs.57,112.48 crore from open market loans. While the revenue expenditure is pegged at Rs.2,20,944.81 crore, the capital expenditure is estimated at Rs.33,486.5 crore.

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Presenting the budget in the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka stated that the State debts shot up to Rs.6.71 lakh crore at the end of 2023-24 against Rs.75,577 crore in 2014-15 since the State formation. He said the State government was taking all measures to maintain fiscal prudence and put the economy back on track by repaying majority of the loans with around Rs.17,001.37 crore allocated for loan disbursements as well as Rs.19,626.32 crore towards loans and advances.

In the budget allocations, the State government gave highest priority to the agriculture and allied sectors with an allocation of Rs.72,659 crore, followed by Rs.29,816 crore for Panchayath Raj and Rural Development, and Rs.22,301 crore for Irrigation. Around Rs.21,292 crore has been set aside for Education and another Rs.11,468 crores for Medical and Health.

Ironically, the State budget had no allocations for the much-hyped Abhaya Hastham (Six Guarantees) except for Rs.2,418 crore for Gruha Jyothi Scheme and Rs.723 crore for the subsidised LPG cylinder scheme at Rs.500. The budget was high on hopes and promises, but had no concrete allocations for a majority of the schemes including Rythu Bharosa and others.

The State government allocated Rs.1,525 crore for the Regional Ring Road (RRR) for the current financial year, as against total expenditure of Rs.13,522 crore for the northern part and Rs.12,980 crore for the southern part of RRR. Another Rs.10,000 crore was allocated for development of Hyderabad including GHMC, HYDRAA, HMDA, HMWS&SB, Hyderabad Metro Rail and other development activities. Just Rs.1,500 crore was allocated to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s pet project of Musi Riverfront development.

Proposals for Rs.33,124 crore for SC Special Development Fund and Rs.17,056 crore for ST Special Development Fund have been made in the budget. A total of Rs.16,410 crore was set aside for power transmission and distribution companies. A nominal allocation of Rs.2,762 crore for Industries department and Rs.774 crore for the Information and Technology department, were also made.