Hyderabad: The state government will once again be faced with a huge shortfall in the budgeted revenue and expenditure for the current financial year 2018-19.
Though the Andhra Pradesh government has availed of the overdraft facility every day except on holidays, the Telangana government has scrupulously observed fiscal discipline and avoided overdraft from the Reserve Bank of India.
The state government authorities are preparing the vote-on-account budget as well as the memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission to get higher quantum of funds from the Centre in view of the Commission’s visit to the state in the second week of February.
The state government requires huge funds to continue to fulfil its promises made during the 2014 elections and also to implement the new promises made during the recent Assembly polls.
When the 14th Finance Commission visited Telangana the ruling Telangana Rashtriya Samithi government presented a surplus revenue whereas the Andhra Pradesh government presented the deficit revenue and succeeded in getting almost Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore from the Centre as revenue gap funding for the five years.
Sources in the finance department pointed out that though the state government is performing well, funds from the Centre are not coming in and the state is not getting the budgeted central funds.
During the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state four years ago, it was decided that the Centre has to devolve the share of revenue in the ratio of 58:42 between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and that was one of the reasons Telangana got a lesser share than AP, though it has been recording considerable growth for the past 49 months.
Telangana achieved 14.1 per cent growth rate (GSDP) in 2017-18 and recently Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that Telangana is a role model for the cause of farmers and is at the top in Gross State Domestic Product in the country with revenue growth of 29.93 per cent for the financial year 2018-19.
Mr Rao while holding a review with finance and senior officers in the backdrop of the visit of the 15th Finance Commission to the state, recently instructed officials of the finance department to prepare a memorandum highlighting Telangana’s requirements.
