Uttam accuses KCR of making Telangana bankrupt

HYDERABAD: Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of transforming Telangana into a bankrupt state while increasing the per capita debt by almost five times.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a written reply to a question raised in the Lok Sabha on Monday, revealed that some states had bypassed the net borrowing ceiling (NBC) by raising loans from certain public sector companies, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and other similar establishments, where the principal and/or interest were to be paid out of the state budgets.

He said the Union finance minister had also shared the state-wise details of total outstanding liabilities of state governments compiled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"Telangana state had inherited debts of Rs 69,000 crores at the time of its formation in 2014. Those borrowings or outstanding liabilities were accumulated in 60 years. However, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government has increased those debts to  Rs 3,12,191 crore in just 7-8 years. As per the RBI report, the total outstanding liabilities of Telangana increased to Rs 72,658.10 crore in 2015, Rs 90,523.4 crore in 2016, Rs 81,820.9 crore in 2017, Rs 160,296.3 crore in 2018, Rs 190,202.7 crore in 2019, Rs 225,418.0 crore in 2020, Rs 267,530.7 crore in 2021 and to Rs 312,191.3 crore in 2022," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said the per capita debt of Telangana at the time of its formation was about Rs 18,157. With Telangana's outstanding liabilities increasing to Rs 312,191 crore, the per capita debt had increased by almost five times to Rs 82,155.

"If we also take into account the loans procured through various public sector companies, SPVs and other establishments of the state government, then the overall debts of Telangana stand at more than Rs 4 lakh crore. This takes the per capita debt to over Rs 1 lakh," he said.