Finance Minister Etala Rajender on Wednesday dismissed the reports that Telangana was facing financial crisis.
Addressing a press conference, along with Special Secretary (Finance) Pradeep Chandra, at the State Secretariat here, Etala claimed that the State’s finances were in better shape and has been improving. He said that the State achieved a GSDP of 6.61% through tax efficiency measures. The revenue receipts have been satisfactory with the success rate being 90-95% against the set targets. The Finance Department got 26% revenue income against the target of 28%. He said there has been significant increase in the revenue compared to corresponding period of last year. As against the revenue receipts of Rs. 2,265 last year, the figure was Rs. 2,429 crore in June this year. Similarly, as against the target of 30-32% expenditure in last quarter, about 29% of funds have been spent.
Etala said efforts were on to increase the revenue receipts from Excise, Stamps and Registration, sale of land, Transport and other department. He completely dismissed the allegations by opposition parties that the State Government was heading towards a financial crisis.
The Finance Minister admitted that the State Government took a loan of Rs. 1500 crore from the RBI as per norms. However, he said Telangana got loan at 1.5% less interest rate compared to Madhya Pradesh. He also expressed confidence of getting back Rs. 1,274 crore deducted by RBI towards IT arrears of AP Beverages Corporation. He claimed that huge investments and funds were flowing into Telangana after the introduction of new Industrial Policy by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. (INN)