Telangana's Rs 1.83 lakh crore budget: KCR bets big on welfare amid slowdown

The Telangana government presented a budget of Rs 1.83 lakh crore for the year 2020-21, with no new tax proposals and keeping farming, welfare as the primary focus.

Introducing the budget in the state assembly on Sunday, finance minister Harish Rao expressed concern that following the Fifteenth Finance Commission recommendations, Telangana would have a reduction in central tax devolution by Rs 2,384 crore in 2020-21.

The tax devolution from the Centre to the State is expected to be lower in 2019-20 by Rs 3,731 crore as compared with the budget estimates. Following the economic slowdown, growth of state’s own revenues in 2019-20 (till February end) is estimated to be at 6.3 percent - much below the 16.1 percent growth of 2018-19, Rao said in his speech.

“(But) let me assure that despite these adverse developments beyond our control, the government is confident of overcoming the situation with appropriate strategies and keep up the growth momentum in the State,” the FM said while unveiling a welfare oriented budget.

Rythu Bandhu, a farmer investment support scheme offering Rs 10,000 per acre in a year is allocated Rs 14,000 crore.

Mentioning that Telangana’s crop sector is estimated to grow at 23.7 per cent in 2019-20, Rao said that Rythu Bandhu has inspired several states to introduce similar schemes and that the Narendra Modi government designed the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan).

For the Rythu Bima scheme, wherein if a farmer dies due to any cause the family gets an insurance of Rs five lakh, the allocation is Rs 1,141 crore. The amount is towards the insurance premium of Rs 2,271 per farmer to LIC without any burden on the farmer.

The K Chandrasekhar Rao government has also budgeted Rs 6,225 crore in 2020-21 for the farm loan waiver scheme. His government had in its first term waived Rs 16,124 crore of farmers’ loans.

Rs 11,758 crore is the allocation for Aasara, under which Rs 2,016 per month is given to poor senior citizens, widows, beedi workers, filaria victims, single women, handloom weavers, toddy tappers and AIDS victims. Disabled pension is Rs 3,016 per month.

On the urban side, developmental works in Hyderabad are given a priority. While estimating that about Rs 50,000 crore rupees as the requirement over the next five years for works in the capital city to transform it into an international city, the budget has a proposal of Rs 10,000 crore in 2020-21 to carry out the Musi River purification and Musi River Front Project and other special projects in the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration area.

Dwelling on augmenting resources in the backdrop of economic recession in the country, Rao said that Telangana is better placed “when compared with other States.”

“Past five years, the State’s own revenue average growth rate is 21.5 percent, and this has come down to 6.3 percent this year (February end), meaning a 15.2 percent decline.”

Selling unused lands and enhancing income from sand and other minerals are among the resource generation plans, the state’s FM said.