No dearth of funds for Telangana’s flagship welfare programmes, say officials

State’s GSDP registers growth rate of 15 per cent; debt-to-GDP ratio a healthy 22 per cent
Principal Secretary (Finance) K Ramakrishna Rao speaks to media persons at the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday | VINAY MADAPU
Principal Secretary (Finance) K Ramakrishna Rao speaks to media persons at the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday | VINAY MADAPU

HYDERABAD: None of Telangana’s flagship programmes is suffering from want of funds. “The State has registered an enormous growth in State Own Tax Revenues (SOTR),” explained Principal Secretary, Finance K Ramakrishna Rao, adding that the delay in payment to some beneficiaries and small contractors is because of procedural matters and not due to lack of funds.

Speaking to reporters at Secretariat on Tuesday, the principal secretary said that the State’s GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) has grown by 15 per cent this year. Telangana was top among all the States in SOTR. “The average SOTR collection in the past five years was 16.5 per cent. In April of 2019-20 FY, it was 24 per cent,” said Rao.

He added that revenue collections and growth in the State are quite encouraging. “We will implement all flagship programmes without any problems,” he repeated.  Rao said Telangana is on top when it comes to capital expenditure. Since 2014, the State has spent Rs 1,64,519 crore on capital formation, against just Rs 54,052 crore between 2004-05 and 2013-14 (as part of undivided Andhra Pradesh). 

“The State did exceptionally well last year, with capital expenditure of Rs 47,038 crore in 2018-19. We will continue to perform well in the future too,” said the principal secretary. Rao said the debts of the State are within permissible limits. As per the FRBM Act, the debt-to-GSDP ratio should be within 25 per cent.

“The debt-to-GSDP ratio of Telangana is only 22 per cent. This is much less compared to 35-40 per cent in the States of Kerala, West Bengal and Rajasthan,” he explained.   “The average interest rate being paid by the State on debt is just 8.37 per cent. The growth rate of the State is 15 per cent. It can thus be termed as sustainable debt,” he said. Rao said there was no delay in the payment of bills for any major scheme such as Mission Bhagiratha,

“The total pending bills are worth 3,474.22 crores. The pending amount for Mission Bhagiratha work is just Rs 659.40 crore. The delay in payment is due to procedural and administrative reasons,” he said.

When asked to comment on rumours making the rounds in the Secretariat, that there is an ‘undeclared financial emergency in force in Telangana’, Rao said the State GSDP was just Rs  4 lakh crore in 2014. “It is Rs  9 lakh crore now. Then (2014) the Budget size was Rs 40,000 crore. Now it is Rs 1.8 lakh crore. The volume of work has increased considerably. Due to this, some people are thinking there is pressure on the system,” he said. Rao added that the State is also getting Rs 12,000 crore revenue every month.

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