Telangana Finance Minister Rao presents state budget for 2021-22; details Covid impact

After the state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday approved the state budget for the year 2021-22, Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao presented the state budget in the state assembly. The total expenditure for the financial year 2021-2022 is Rs 2,30,825.96 crore. Of this revenue expenditure is Rs 1,69,383.44 crore and capital expenditure is Rs 29,046,77 crore. Revenue surplus in the budget is estimated at Rs 6,743.50 crore and the estimated fiscal deficit is Rs 45,509.60 crore.

The impact of Corona on State Economy.

As the state continues to fight against Covid-19, it has also impacted the state economy as well. The lockdown had a drastic impact on the economy of the states and Centre. The GDP is estimated to contract by 8 percent in the financial year 2020-21. While the GDP growth at current prices in 2020-21 is estimated to be at-3.8 percent, in Telangana the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is estimated to be at +1.3 percent.

The state's Finance Minister said that with the availability of Corona vaccine the society is gradually recovering. The state economy is also on a gradual recovery path. With these developments, it is expected that there would be a significant improvement in the GSDP of the state in the next financial year.

As per advance estimates, GSDP at the current prices in 2020-2021 is estimated at Rs 9,78,373 crore. With the adverse impact of Corona and lockdown, the growth of GSDP declined significantly from 13.5 percent in 2019-20 to 1.3 percent 2020-21. The national GDP growth declined from 7.8 percent to -3.8 percent in the same period.

The per capita income of Telangana is higher than the country's per capita income. Despite adverse conditions, the Telangana per capita income showed an increase.

Harish Rao said that the sectors like commercial services, technical and communications sector, real estate and construction sectors and others which has been providing significant employment opportunities in the past few years collapsed as a fallout of Corona. The only sector which withstood the adverse impact of Corona is Agriculture. The Agriculture sector played an important role even in the difficult time of Corona, he added.

Measures taken to control Corona

The state government has set up 1200 corner test centres across the state to control the spread of Corona. 

"During cortana the government stood by the poorer people of the state and migrant workers on humanitarian grounds. In the 1st 3 months of the lockdown each person was provided with 12 kg of ration rice free of cost. Rs 1500 was provided as financial assistance to each family having a ration card for 2 months. Govt spent Rs 2,455 crore for this purpose", said Harish Rao.

6.47 lakh migrant workers from different states were given Rs500 each along with 5 kgs of rice, the amount spent for this is Rs 107 crore. 151 special trains were arranged to transport 2,01,213 migrant workers to their native places. Government provided an incentive of Rs235.36 crore to police, doctors and sanitation workers who were in the forefront of fighting Corona tirelessly. State govt also provided financial assistance to journalists affected by Corona.