Telangana government presents Rs 1,15,689 crore full-fledged Budget, no fresh taxes
Hyderabad: In its maiden full-fledged Budget for the new state, Telangana government on Wednesday proposed a total expenditure of Rs 1,15,689 crore, including non-plan expenditure of Rs 63,306 crore for 2015-16.
The estimated revenue surplus in the Budget presented by state Finance Minister Etela Rajender is Rs 531 crore. The plan expenditure was proposed at Rs 52,383 crore, while no fresh taxes have been imposed.
The fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 16,969 crore. Sectors of education, irrigation, medical and health services, 'Mission Kakatiya' (revival of tanks), energy, water grid, agriculture, welfare of SCs, STs, minorities, road upgradation, administration of Hyderabad, including metro rail; have received major allocations in budget estimates for 2015-16.
The proposed allocation for education sector is Rs 11,216 crore, Rs 8,500 crore for irrigation (including major, medium, minor irrigation projects), Rs 2,083 crore for 'Mission Kakatiya' and Rs 4,000 crore for water grid.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) have received Rs 526 crore, Rs 416 crore and Rs 1,000 crore, respectively.
An amount of Rs 4,932 crore has been proposed for medical and health services.
Budgetary allocation of Rs 4,980 crore was made for road up-gradation and maintenance under Roads and Buildings department. An amount of Rs 2,421 crore has been proposed for Panchayat Raj roads.
While observing that power shortage is one of the major issues in Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government expressed confidence that it would become power surplus by 2018.
The present generating capacity of the state is 4,320 MW, which is proposed to be enhanced to 23,675 MW by 2018-end. The amount proposed for the energy sector in 2015-16 is Rs 7,400 crore under plan and non-plan.
Stating that Rs 4,250 crore has been released for farmers' debt relief so far, the Finance minister announced an additional relief package of Rs 4,250 crore for farmers. The total provision for agriculture and allied sectors in the budget for 2015-16 is Rs 8,432 crore.
The budget noted that the increase in non-plan expenditure as compared with 2014-15 is mainly on account of increased pay and allowances of government employees.
With the state government announcing a wage hike with a 'fitment' of 43 per cent to the employees, the amount needed under salaries and pensions is Rs 22,889 crore during 2015-16.
The budget proposed an allocation of Rs 2,172 crore for welfare of backward classes, Rs 1,105 crore for minorities, Rs 2,878 crore for tribal welfare and Rs 8,089 crore and Rs 5,036 crore for SC and ST Sub-Plans respectively.
Identifying industrial development as one of the key strategies for economic growth and employment opportunities in the state, the budget noted that a legislation giving statutory status to the efforts for improving the ease of doing business in the state has been effected by Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self-Certification System.
An amount of Rs 973.74 crore is proposed towards payment of industrial incentives in BE (budget estimate) 2015-16.
Noting that the government has faced constraints in raising the plan outlay in 2015-16 mainly on account of less than expected tax devolution from the award of the 14th Finance Commission and the reduction in plan transfers from the Centre, the budget said a higher plan outlay would have been proposed otherwise.
"The estimated tax devolution to the state is only Rs 12,823 crore in 2015-16. The Centre has drastically reduced plan grants to the state from Rs 3,14,814 crore in BE 2014-15 to Rs 1,80,293 crore in BE 2015-16.
"Consequently, plan grants to the state from the Centre are budgeted at Rs 6,497 crore in BE 2015-16, which was Rs 11,781 crore in BE 2014-15. But for the reduction in the Central transfers, our government would have proposed a higher plan outlay," it said.
"It is ironical that while the Centre has budgeted for a fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015-16, states are being asked to adhere to the limit of 3 per cent of GSDP," it said.
Though the finance commission has recommended an additional borrowing limit of 0.5 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) on fulfilling certain conditions, no decision has yet been taken by the Union Government on this recommendations, it added.
