Hyderabad: For the first time in about two decades, the state received a pragmatic Budget with the Congress government projecting an organic growth in rupee inflow, be it through own tax revenues, devolution of Central taxes and borrowings.Ever since the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy dispensation presented a Budget with the outlay crossing Rs 1 lakh crore in 2008-09, the governments that followed over the years were obsessed with enhancing the outlay despite a drastic fall in the realisation of revenue and expenditure presented in the previous fiscal. Post bifurcation, the Telugu states followed the tradition.On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister and finance minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka stood his ground and projected an organic growth rate of 7.3 per cent in the Budget outlay, from Rs 2.91 lakh crore to Rs 3.04 lakh crore, against a 14 per cent-plus growth rate projected by the previous BRS regime for about a decade.“We took a conscious decision because in any given situation the minimum growth will be up to 10 per cent. If we achieve more, it will be passed on to the people,” Bhatti told Deccan Chronicle. “We successfully showcased our commitment to women and youth welfare besides focus on urban development,” he added.For instance, the BRS regime projected a revenue growth of Rs 10,000 crore from 2022-23 to 2023-24 from taxes on sales and trade but the actual growth was just Rs 385 crore. The present government showed a Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 37,463 crore against Rs 33,449 crore in the last fiscal, a difference of just Rs 4,000 crore. The state got Rs 2,000 crore more from devolution of Central taxes from the estimated Rs 25,639 crore in the last fiscal, and the Budget has pegged the figure at Rs 29,899 crore.To keep the BE higher in the election year, the BRS government, despite its fight with the Centre, projected a whopping Rs 41,259 crore grant-in-aid but in reality received Rs 23,472 crore. On the contrary, the Congress government projected Rs 20,658 crore grant-in-aid last year, and got Rs 7,000 crore more. It has projected an increase of just Rs 2,000 crore more for FY 2025-26 than the amount realised in the current fiscal. In case of excise revenue, the government did not show any intent to increase the revenue abnormally and projected the hike at Rs 2,000 crore.When it comes to debt, the BRS regime borrowed Rs 9,000 crore more than the estimated open market loans of Rs 40,000 crore in its last year in power. The Congress government projected Rs 57,000 crore but ended up raking in Rs 56,940 crore going by the Revised Estimates (RE). For 2025-26, however, it projected Rs 64,539 crore through open market loans.The only area where the finance minister sprang a surprise was by estimating a 35 per cent increase in revenue from registration and stamps. Despite the slump in the real estate market, the Budget projected Rs 19,087 crore against the RE of Rs 14,692 crore in the current financial year. Sources said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was confident of the real estate market picking up soon.
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