Telangana’s actual revenue receipts well behind the budget estimates

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Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Telangana State Government is consistently lagging behind in achieving the revenue receipts projected in the budget estimates as could be seen from the figures released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The RBI, in its report related to recommendations on increasing the Ways and Means Advances limit for States, has taken into account revenue receipts of the three consecutive financial years 2022-25. Telangana registered revenue receipts of ₹1.59 lakh crore in 2022-23, ₹1.69 lakh crore in 2023-24 and ₹1.67 lakh crore in 2024-25. The figures for the three years are much lower than the quantum presented in the budget estimates of the three fiscal years.

For instance, the State Government projected revenue receipts of ₹1.93 lakh crore in the budget estimates of 2022-23, whereas the realisation was ₹1.59 lakh crore, ₹ 34,000 crore less than the estimates. In 2023-24, the projected revenue receipts were ₹2.16 lakh crore as against the actuals of ₹1.69 lakh crore, and the same was the case in 2024-25 when the State reported receipts of ₹1.67 lakh crore against the projected ₹2.21 lakh crore. This clearly indicates that the revenue collections are frequently lagging behind the initial budget projections.

An overview of the budget estimates reveals that revenue receipts under a few heads have been much less than anticipated leading to the mismatch between the projections and actuals. This is clearly illustrated by the budget estimates and actuals of Grants-in-Aid & Contributions (payments made as assistance, donations, or contributions to support operational or capital expenditures and used to bridge resource gaps and address regional disparities in a multi-tiered governance framework).

The State Government has projected receipts in the form of grants-in-aid and contributions at ₹41,002 crore in 2022-23, and the actual realisation was just ₹13,179 crore. The same was the case in 2023-24, when the actuals were ₹9,934 crore against the estimates of ₹41,259 crore and in 2024-25 ₹7,913 crore was realised against the projected ₹21,636 crore.

Non-tax revenues are another head where revenue receipts continue to be much lower than the estimates, leading to a mismatch between estimates and actuals. Non-tax revenue during 2022-23 was ₹23,608 crore, against the ₹35,208 crore estimate, and the situation repeated over the next two financial years, although the difference was much lower.

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