Telangana: Decade of triumphs and teething problems

Hyderabad: Exponential increase in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), per capita income and agriculture output, sings the growth story of Telangana’s decade-long journey since its separation from Andhra Pradesh on June 2, 2014, while overall mounting debt is on the rise.

Telangana would be completing 10 years tomorrow and the state government has proposed to celebrate the occasion on a grand scale. Despite ten long years after separation, several issues such as bifurcation of assets, power bills dues, are still unresolved between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

During the past decade, the state has emerged as a favourite destination for investments from across various sectors. Mobile giant Apple, IT major Microsoft, Korean electronics firm Foxconn, e-commerce giant Amazon, domestic battery maker Amara Raja Group are some of the companies that stand testament to the investor-friendly environment of the state.

According to provisional estimates, Telangana’s GSDP (at current prices), one of the key economic health indicators of a state, in 2022-23 grew to Rs. 13,13,391 crores, with a growth of 16.3 per cent, from Rs 5,05,849 crore in 2014-15.

In 2014-15, Telangana’s GSDP contributed approximately four per cent to the GDP of the nation while in 2022-23, it grew to 4.8 per cent, an increase of almost 1 percentage point since state formation, as per official figures.

Per Capita Income (PCI) of Telangana at current prices in 2022-23 was Rs. 3.12 lakh which is Rs 1.40 lakh higher than the National average (1,72,276). “Based on the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of PCI at current prices for Telangana and India from 2014-15 to 2022-23, the average citizen in Telangana can expect his/her income to double in 5 to 6 years, whereas the average citizen in the country as a whole would have to wait for about 8 years for their income to double,” a recent government report said.

Telangana ranked third in PCI in 2022-23, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The total area under cultivation in Telangana increased from 1.31 crore (in 2014) to 2.20 crore acres ( in 2023), while paddy production rose from 68 lakh metric tonnes to 2.7 crore metric tonnes during the last nine years of last year.

The Telangana government has sealed MoUs worth over Rs 36,500 crore at the World Economic Forum held at Davos in January with corporate biggies such as Adani Group and JSW, among the other investors signing MoUs with the state.

On the flip side, according to a Telangana State Finances-White Paper tabled by the government in the Legislative Assembly in December last year, the state would have an outstanding debt of Rs 6.72 lakh crore, including non-guaranteed loans of corporations or institutions by the end of FY 24 against Rs 72,658 crore in 2014-15.

As per budget estimates for FY 2023-24, the debt under FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003) was estimated to increase to Rs. 3.90 lakh crore. Political analyst S Nagesh Kumar said Telangana during the past decade has achieved its goal of self-rule and self-respect. He also said all the resources of Telangana including its capital Hyderabad now belong to the state solely.

According to the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, Hyderabad was joint capital of AP and Telangana until June 2, 2014. Pointing out the controversial Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation, Kumar also opined that one has to retrospect how well the resources were invested during the past ten years.

The division of various institutions and corporations, listed in Schedule 9 and Schedule 10 of the Act, between the two states, has not been completed as there was no consensus over several issues, officials’ sources said.

AP Reorganisation Act mentioned as many as 89 government companies and corporations are listed in the Ninth Schedule while the 10th Schedule of the Act includes 107 training institutions/centres like AP State Co-operative Union, Environment Protection Training and Research Institute, AP Forest Academy, Centre for Good Governance and Andhra Pradesh Police Academy.

The Centre had held a meeting with senior officials from both the states in the National Capital in March on bifurcation issues.