HYDERABAD: Telangana ranks first in the country with the highest average annual growth rate (AAGR) of state’s own income as per the latest data on economy of states from the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation. Currently, the state’s own annual income is Rs 66,688 crore and a growth rate of 11.52% since its formation in 2014.
Odisha is second with AAGR of own income at 9.74%, Jharkhand is third (8.9%), UP fourth (8.6%) and neighbouring AP fifth (8.38%). Among the bigger states, Gujarat is last at 2.59%.
Announcing the latest estimates from the Union government, state finance minister T Harish Rao stated on Monday that Telangana has seen a 90% increase in state income collection from 2014-15 to 2020-21. Telangana’s own income during the formation year (2014-15) was Rs 35,146 crore.
“Many development-oriented policies, fiscal measures and welfare schemes that enhanced livelihoods, particularly in the agriculture sector, are the cause for the state’s steady growth in enhancing its own income,” he said.
The finance minister said that Telangana’s superlative work can be gauged from the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and income growth rate, which were the two major indicators of a state’s financial performance. Telangana’s growth rate overtook Karnataka’s in 2017-18 and it has outpaced the neighbour since then.
“Telangana has earned the greatest yearly average growth in GSDP among all southern states at 11.7% post-2014-15,” he added.
Harish Rao also dismissed criticism that the state was overburdened with debt. “We are one of the few states with a loan load that is considerably below the permissible limit of 25% imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act. We are at 22.83%,” the finance minister said. But many other large states have crossed this limit, including Andhra Pradesh, and have accepted loans in excess of 30%, surpassing the FRBM ceiling, he added.
