Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on a roller-coaster ride to meet budget figures
Hyderabad: The government’s of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are struggling to meet their budget figures in the current financial year. In the eight months period of the present financial year, the Telangana government has spent 50.68 per cent of the total budget and the AP government has spent 62.86 per cent of the total budget. In the remaining four months, TS has to spend about 50 per cent of the budget and AP has to spend 38 per cent.
Average monthly revenue is not sufficient to meet the budget figure at the end of the current financial year. There will be not much scope for the market borrowing from both governments.
The TS government presented a budget of Rs 1.39 lakh crore and the AP government presented a Rs 1.47 lakh crore budget. According to CAG, up to November 2017, the TS government has spent '73,108 crore and the AP government has spent '91,155 crore. In the first eight-month period, the TS government’s revenue was Rs 52,733 crore and the AP government’s revenue was '58,327 crore. The average monthly revenue of the TS government is '6,600 crore and the AP revenue is '7,290 crore.
The remaining budget expenditure of the TS is 68,770 against the revenue of '26,400 crore. Accordingly, TS will face a shortfall of '42,370 crore to reach the budget figure. The remaining AP expenditure is '55,340 crore against the revenue of '29,163 crore. To reach the budget figure, AP will face a shortfall of '26,177 crore.
But the CAG report says that at the end of November 2017, TS’s financial position is '3150.43 crore deficit against the budget projection of '4571.31 crore surplus. At the end of November 2017, AP had a deficit of '21,504 crore against its budget projection of a deficit of '414.80 crore.
Since both the state governments projected about 30 per cent additional revenue, they are struggling to meet the budget figure.
AP’s financial position alarming
According to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report, Andhra Pradesh’s financial situation is alarming. In the eight month period (April-November 2017) the AP government’s borrowings and other liabilities crossed 153 per cent, which shows the alarming financial position of the state government.
In its annual budget, the AP government projected total borrowings and other liabilities to be '23,054.44 crore at the end of the current financial year. But up to November 2017, the government’s borrowings and other liabilities reached '35,292.17 crore. With four months remaining of the current financial year, AP government’s borrowings and other liabilities are '12,237 crore more than the annual projection.
In the previous financial year in the same period the AP government’s borrowings and other liabilities were 117.91 per cent. In the budget, the government projected annual state own tax and non-tax revenue to be Rs 124,595 crore but in the first eight month period it has earned 46.48 per cent only.
This will affect the expenditure in the remaining period of the current financial year.
