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CAG report highlights fiscal woes for Telangana government

Hyderabad: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Thursday reported that, in the first nine months of the current fiscal, the government had spent over 65 per cent of its revenue receipts on salaries, pensions, debt repayments, and subsidies.

The revenue receipts from April to November amounted to ₹1,12,307 crore, the CAG said, while the expenditure on these critical areas reached ₹73,428 crore.

As a result, the revenue deficit surged to ₹19,892 crore, a sharp increase from ₹14,288 crore in November 2024. This rise contrasted with the projected revenue surplus of ₹297.42 crore.

The state’s growing debt burden was also a concern, with open market borrowings rising to ₹48,178 crore, or 97.81 per cent of the ₹49,255.41 crore Budget Estimate (BE).

The CAG's analysis pointed to a mixed fiscal performance for Telangana, highlighting the improvement in some revenue streams like sales tax. However, the state faced growing fiscal pressure, exacerbated by rising expenditure on interest payments, pensions, and subsidies, the CAG said.

The CAG reports reaffirmed what Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had recently stated about the state’s finances. Revanth Reddy said the state was getting `18,500 crore per month but required `23,000 crore to meet all expenses. He had pointed out that `6,500 crore was going for debt servicing and `6,500 per month for salaries and pensions, leaving the government with just `5,500 crore to meet expenditure on welfare schemes and development programmes. He had placed the deficit at `5,000 crore per month. The CAG report is in line with CM's words.

In the final quarter of the fiscal year (January-March 2024-25), the government faces an uphill battle in managing the widening revenue and fiscal deficits and ensuring that spending aligns with revenue collections to achieve fiscal sustainability by the end of 2024-25.

Speaking to mediapersons recently Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had said that the government had repaid more loans than the amount it had raised. He said previous BRS government had raised nearly `3 lakh crore loans through open market borrowings in nine years. To reduce that debt burden to some extent, the Congress government borrowed money, often at lower interest rates, and used them to repay the costly BRS-government debt.

CAG data

Head Dec. ’24 Budget % Last yr%

Estimate

Loans, Liabilities ₹48,178.93cr-₹49,255.41cr-97.81-95.56

Interest payments ₹ 19,556.61cr-₹17,729.77cr-110.3-75.86

Salaries, wages ₹ 31,584.35cr- ₹40,041.79cr-78.88-76.05

Pensions ₹12,585.37cr-₹11,641.38cr-108.11-95.89

Subsidies ₹ 9,701.50cr-₹16,242.42cr-59.73-51.55

Revenue receipt ₹ 1,12,307.3cr-₹2,21,242.23cr-50.76-57.72

Revenue deficit ₹19,892.85cr-₹297cr surplus

Fiscal deficit ₹48,178.94-₹49,255.41cr-97.81-65.17

Tax revenue ₹1,02,047.98cr-₹1,64,397.64cr-62.07-65.37

GST ₹37,664.91cr-₹58,594.91cr-64.28-67.03

Stamps, regn ₹ 7524.42cr-₹18,228.82cr-41.28-57.59

Sales tax ₹24,035.11cr-₹33,449.21cr-71.86-56.33 Excise duties ₹14,078.39cr-`25,617.53cr-54.96-82.98

Share of Union taxes ₹12,785.95cr-₹18,384.19cr-69.55-70.57

Non-tax revenue ₹5,487.88cr-₹35,208.44cr-15.59-89.14

Grants-in-aid ₹4,771.44cr-₹21,636.15cr-22.05-12.07

Capital receipts ₹ 48,210.81cr-₹52,815.41cr-91.28- 84.45

Expenditure

(Revenue + Capital) ₹1,57,495.91cr-₹2,54,431.31cr-61.90-62.63

Revenue expenditure ₹1,32,200.15cr-₹2,20,944.81cr-59.83-58.90

Capital expenditure ₹ 25,295.76cr- ₹33,486.5cr-75.54-83.68

( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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