Amid second wave, Telangana earns Rs 9,000 crore in April

HYDERABAD: Telangana may be facing a severe Covid-19 second wave, but authorities said the state has begun the new financial year reasonably well, earning Rs 9,340 crore in April, against the budget 2020-21 estimation of Rs 16,000 crore monthly income.
The budget estimates predict an income from finance commission allocation, the state's share of central transfers, funds for centrally-sponsored schemes and market borrowings in the form of bonds and state’s own income in the form of taxes and others.
The state's own income stands at Rs 6,746 crore out of Rs 9,340 crore, indicating the state had performed well in its own tax collection and other parameters, officials claimed.
“The second wave though very grim, the income generation is better. Last year (2019- 20), the state could only muster five percent of the expected income due to total lockdown,” said a senior finance official.
The state earned nearly Rs 1,000 crore in excise and stamps registration generated an income of Rs 700 crore this April.
“The state machinery was alert and anticipated slowed down activities, tax collection was efficient,” said another official.
Overall monthly income of the state in April is almost close to what was earned in the month of April in 2018-19 when the state earned Rs 9,860 crore with no one having an inkling of the virus back in the days.
Apart from its own income, the state had also secured Rs 800 crore as the share from the centre.
In April, the state borrowed Rs 1,500 crore as market borrowings.
The Union government on Sunday released Rs 8,923 crore as the next installment for various states towards grant for Panchayat Raj institutions, Telangana received Rs 273 crore as it’s share.