Telangana GDP Growth Slips Below National Average, Gap Widens Between Districts

Hyderabad: The state's economy has recorded a growth rate of 7.4 per cent in 2023-24, which is lower than the national growth rate of 7.6 per cent, said Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, in his Budget speech. The global economy recorded a growth rate of 3.2 per cent during 2023-24, he said.

At current prices, Telangana's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for 2023-23 is Rs 14,63,963 crore. This is 11.9 per cent higher than 2022-23. At the national level, this growth rate is at 9.1 per cent.

In 2023-24, the services sector contributed 65.7 per cent, the industrial sector 18.5 per cent, while agriculture and allied sectors contributed 15.8 per cent to Telangana's Gross State Value Added (GSVA).

At current prices, the GSVA of agriculture and allied sectors has increased to four per cent in 2023-24 as compared with 2022-23. Since the sector employs 47.3 per cent of the state's population, its economic success is critical for improving living standards in Telangana. At least, 33 per cent of the state's population is dependent on the services sector and 19.7 per cent on the industrial sector.

The labour force participation rate was higher compared to the national average, Bhatti said.

He stated that it was a huge challenge for the newly-formed Congress government to manage the state, which was in financial shambles due to the mismanagement by the BRS government in the last ten years. The situation was in such a bad shape that loans had to be raised to repay loans.

The state's debt, which was Rs 75,577 crore at the time of formation of Telangana state in June 2014, increased to Rs 6,71,751 crore.

"We focussed our immediate attention on the repayment of loans even though they were passed on to us by the irresponsible previous government," Bhatti said.

"Since the formation of our government, we have raised loans of Rs 35,118 crore whereas we have repaid loans of Rs 42,892 crore. In effect, we have repaid a higher amount of Rs 7,774 crore than the loans we have raised and demonstrated our sincerity to the people," Bhatti said.

In spite of the extremely difficult financial situation, the Congress government never ignored the welfare of the people, he said.

"We have spent Rs 34,579 crore on various welfare schemes since December," Bhatti said.