The Telangana State continues to perform well in terms of economic growth and there was no cause for concern on its financial health, said K. Ramakrishna Rao, Principal Secretary, Finance.
Sharing the details of just-concluded financial year 2018-19 based on the data from Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Mr. Rao said Telangana’s Gross State Domestic Product, as furnished by the Central Statistical Organisation, was ₹8,66,875 crore and it registered a growth of 15% over that of 2017-18 with a GDSP of ₹7,53,804 crore.
The State’s own tax revenue registered a growth of 14.5 % during 2018-19 and in the last five years, the average growth was 16.5 % making Telangana a lead State in the revenue growth rate. Its own tax revenue was ₹65,716 crore, he said. Even in April in the current fiscal, the same trend continued with a growth of 24%.
Telangana’s capital expenditure in the last five years was ₹1,64, 519 crore, he said and added that the capital expenditure was mere ₹54,052 crore in 10 years till 2014 in the combined State.
“We made sufficient provisions based on realistic estimates in the budget for the flagship programmes, and the pending bills of contractors and agencies amounted to only ₹3,474 crore which will be cleared within one to one-and-a-half months,” he said.
On delayed payments for fee reimbursement and welfare schemes, Mr. Rao said the department was processing 2-2.5 lakh bills every month and there might be some procedural delays that would also be addressed soon.
The Finance Secretary also allayed fears about Telangana’s debt burden.
The total debt stood at ₹1.8 lakh crore from ₹80,000 crore in 2014 and it was well within the FRBM limits and the debt to GSDP ratio was only 22% below the norm of 25%.
The loans were raised for capital expenditure and it was like investment in future and it would help the GSDP grow. There would be no repayment pressure either as the government has gone for 30-year bonds, he said.
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