Hyderabad: With higher growth rate, higher per capita income, decent increase in state’s own tax revenues and lowest debt burden when compared to other bigger states, the Telangana government is expected to go for a 'jumbo budget' again for 2022-23 on March 7.
Last year, the budget size was Rs 2.31 lakh crore which was the highest since the formation of the state in 2014 and this time it is expected to be more than Rs 2.50 lakh crore.
The state's revenue earnings which took a hit from March 2020 to June 2021 due to Covid lockdowns and other restrictions on economic activities rebounded since July 2021. The revenue collections through commercial taxes, excise, stamps and registrations, GST and IGST have increased significantly from July 2021 to February 2022.
According to Telangana state statistical abstract report released last week, the provisional estimates show the GSDP of Telangana in 2020-21 at Rs 9,80,407 crore. Between 2012-13 and 2020-21, the average annual GSDP growth of Telangana was 6.8 per cent and GDP of India was 5.1 per cent.
Telangana’s growth rate has been consistently higher. In 2018-19 it was 9.8 per cent against the GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent. The growth rate was 6 per cent in 2019-20 against the GDP growth rate of 4 per cent. In 2020-21, it was -0.6 per cent against all India -7.3 per cent. In another key performance indicator, the per capita income of Telangana increased from Rs 91,121 in 2011-12 to `2,37,632 in 2020-21. This is against all India averages ranging from Rs 63,462 in 2011-12 to Rs 1,28,829 in 2020-21.
The latest data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) revealed that the state has lowest unemployment at 0.7 per cent.
As per a recent RBI report, Telangana has emerged as the fourth largest contributor to India's GDP. According to last year (2020-21) budget estimates, the state's estimated outstanding public debt will be over Rs 2.86 lakh crore. However, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and finance minister T. Harish Rao repeatedly said the state had the capacity to manage debts.
A study paper released by the RBI in January, Telangana’s debt-to-GSDP ratio is the lowest in the country, indicating the fiscal health of the state. Based on the annual data between 2014-15 and 2018-19, the study paper revealed that the State Performance Composite
Index (SPCI) of Telangana has improved. The SPCI measures both the fiscal performance and market development of states. The average debt to GSDP of Telangana from 2014-15 to
2018-19 was 16.1 per cent, which is the lowest among the states in the country.
According to the ‘Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2020-21’, the Net State Value Added (NSVA) by Telangana at current prices to the country increased from Rs 4,16,930 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 8,10,503 crore in 2020-21.
