Rama Krishna Sangem
Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao’s self-reliant budget in the assembly for 2022-23 on March 7 is strong on fundamentals. As he is sure of revenues, the allocations for certain new schemes are practical and bold. In a way, this budget reflects CM KCR’s welfare-cum- development agenda, meant to guide the entire India.
Initial media leaks said the budget would be around Rs 2.7 lakh crore. But, FM Harish limited it to Rs 2.56 lakh crore, based on the realistic figures of revenue inflows for the next one year. Of this, Rs 1.89 lakh crore is meant for revenue expenditure (Revexp)– means paying for salaries, pensions and other establishment maintenance. Only Rs 29,728 crore is capital expenditure – Capex.
Small Capex
Capex means for funds spent on capital assets – news schemes and new asset formation in the coming year. This shows Capex is small, compared to Revexp. But, most of the capex schemes are included in Revexp heads, according to officials in the finance department. That way, Harish did a tight balancing act in his self-reliant budget.
This Rs 2.56 lakh crore budget is 23 per cent higher than the last year’s revised estimates. So, Telangana should get 23 per cent more inflows in the coming year to realize its budgetary allocations. This is possible as Telangana is witnessing a buoyant financial activity, compared to any other state in India.
Global Oil Prices
Of course, petrol prices will hurt the budget of the Central government, but not Telangana. Moreover, increased petrol prices will fetch the state more taxes – that alone will take care of the 23 per cent more revenues. Going by Russian war on Ukraine’s impact on global oil and gas prices, Telangana may get revenue collections more than 23 per cent.
On the other hand, Telangana’s main revenue sources – registration and stamps income is likely to be strong in next year also. The pent up demand for real estate is now being released and it will continue for some more years. So is the case with other revenues – commercial taxes and sale of lands through open auctions etc.
Robust Resources
Revenues from the Central government will be pretty good for the coming year – Rs 41,000 crore of grant-in-aid, Rs 18, 394 crore of devolution of central taxes and Rs 15,446 crore of GST share – to a total of around Rs 75,000 crore. Even if there is a slight decrease in the central inflows, Telangana can manage the expenditure through its robust internal resources.
At the same time, Harish wanted to be practical and realistic. He cut to Rs 3 lakh from the earlier Rs 5 assistance promised to those who build houses in their own sites. Similarly, the number of beneficiaries under Dalita Bandhu scheme to is put at 1.77 lakh families in 2022-23. Each of them will get an assistance of Rs 10 lakh for their self-employment schemes.
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Very good analysis of the budget.
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