Gap between Telangana’s budget estimates of revenue receipts and expenditure and actuals continues at the end of January

Revenue receipts pegged at 63.2% with just two months to go

Gap between the revenue receipts and expenditure projected in the Telangana’sbudget estimates of the current financial year and the actuals achieved continues.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikaramarka in his budget speech said that gap between the estimates and actuals could be as high as ₹70,000 crore at the end of the fiscal. Substantiating his assertion, the overall revenue receipts at the end of January were pegged at ₹ 1.36 lakh crore, 63.2% of ₹2.16 lakh crore projected for the year with just two months left for the completion of the fiscal.

The revenue receipts include ₹40,882 crore in the form of borrowings and other liabilities which is higher than ₹38,234 crore projected for the fiscal. The additional borrowings could be possible as Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Mr. Bhatti during their visit to New Delhi in January met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and convinced them on giving space for additional borrowings of Rs. 9,000 crore on account of the State’s financial situation.

Tax revenue at the end of January was ₹1.1 lakh crore, 72.42% of the ₹1.52 lakh crore project, leaving a gap of over ₹40,000 crore with two months left in the fiscal. Officials are however hopeful of closing in on the target as the last two months February and March traditionally witness higher revenue receipts.

Revenue through Goods and Services Tax during the period was ₹37,995 crore against ₹50,942 crore of the budget estimates. Accruals in the form of State Excise duties continued to be buoyant at ₹17,964 crore, 90.34% of the targeted ₹19,884 crore for the year while non-tax revenue at the end of January was ₹20,572 crore, ₹241 crore higher than ₹20,331 crore at the end of December quarter.

On the expenditure side, interest payment continues to be a major head with ₹19,102 crore against the projected ₹22,407 crore and expenditure incurred on payment of salaries/wages was ₹32,650 crore against ₹38,627 crore, marking 84.53% of achievement. According to the provisional figures released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, pension payments continued to be on the higher side with ₹14,012 crore incurred under the head and this is against ₹13,024 crore projected for the entire fiscal.

The State’s fiscal deficit at the end of January stood at ₹40,852 crore and the revenue deficit at ₹1,269 crore as against the revenue surplus of ₹4,881 crore projected in the budget estimates. The primary deficit during the period was estimated at ₹21,749 crore while the budget estimates projected it at ₹33,655 crore.