Telangana has opted for sale of its lands and property as one of the revenue generation methods to meet its immediate financial requirements during between 2014-15 and 2023-24, the period when the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) was in power.
The decadal review of the States’ finances by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said Telangana received ₹16,478 crore from the sale of land and property and miscellaneous other receipts. The proceeds from sale of lands constituted 69% of the State’s Non-Tax Revenue (SNTR) receipts during the period.
The State performed well in terms of receipts from mineral royalties as it received ₹12,795 crore, constituting 23% of the SNTR during the period. The State stood next only to Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand — two mineral rich States in receiving higher SNTR through mineral royalties.
The State, according to the report, is among those which accounted for salaries and interest payment as large components of committed expenditure. The State along with 10 other States including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh registered interest expenditure higher than the pensionary expenditure during the period.
In financial year 2023-24, expenditure on pension was ₹16,841 crore much higher than ₹13,024 crore of the budget estimates and the same was the case with 2022-23 when expenditure on account of pension payment was ₹15,816 crore against the budgeted ₹11,384 crore. The situation, the CAG said, indicated relatively higher debt servicing requirements as Telangana was one of the 11 States which spent more than 10% of their total expenditure on interest payment.
Telangana, however, performed well registering the lowest increase of 143% in terms of loans and advances from the Central Government lesser than West Bengal (169%) and Andhra Pradesh (196%) which are among States to record relatively lower increase of advances and loans from Centre during the decadal period.
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