TS presents ₹2.56 lakh crore budget with stress on welfare measures

Revenue receipts pegged at ₹1.93 lakh crore, expenditure ₹1.89 lakh crore; Harish Rao presents tax free budget 

The State government has presented a massive ₹2.56 lakh crore budget for the next financial year 2022-23 with a heavy accent on welfare of different sections of society.

The State has projected the total revenue receipts for the next fiscal at ₹1.93 lakh crore which includes a whopping ₹59,672 crore public debt component while the revenue expenditure is pegged at ₹1.89 lakh crore, including capital expenditure of ₹29,728 crore, projecting the revenue surplus at the end of the next financial year at ₹3,754 crore.

Fiscal deficit which is pegged at ₹44,766.25 crore according to revised estimates of 2021-22 will significantly increase to ₹52,167 crore by the end of next year going by the projections made in the budget. The budget interestingly projected the grants from the Central government at ₹41,002 crore while the receipts through grants-in-aid and contributions during the current fiscal had not been up to the expected levels.

The non-tax revenue however saw a decline from ₹30,557 crore of the current fiscal to ₹25,422 crore for the next fiscal. The State projected that sale of land would yield around ₹15,500 crore during the next fiscal. Minister for Finance T. Harish Rao introduced the State’s annual financial statement for the next fiscal in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

The budget presented by the Minister for Finance is the last full-fledged budget in the current tenure of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government as the tenure of the current Assembly will end by December next year. The government is likely to present a vote on account budget in the next budget session when the State will be in an election mode.

The State government focused on welfare of different sectors with close to 15 % of the total outlay earmarked for backward classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and women and child welfare. Allocation for BC welfare is pegged at ₹5,697 crore while that of SC welfare made a quantum jump to ₹20,624 crore. The enhancement was primarily on account of the implementation of Dalit Bandhu, the one of its kind financial empowerment scheme for Dalits involving a one-time grant of ₹10 lakh each to eligible Dalit families for promoting entrepreneurship among them. The budget accordingly projected the allocation to Dalit Bandhu at ₹17,700 crore for the next fiscal.

The allocation for SC welfare was in addition to Rythu Bandhu, farmers investment support scheme, for which ₹14,800 crore had been allocated, ₹11,728 crore for Aasara pensions, for which the age limit had been brought down to 57 from 65, power subsidy ₹10,500 crore, scholarships and diet charges ₹4,688 crore. A provision of ₹3,415 crore was made in the budget for tribal welfare, ₹1,728 crore for minorities welfare and ₹1,976 crore for welfare of women, children and senior citizens.