Telangana’s dependence on sale of lands and excise duties continues for raising financial resources

The State government is relying on the sale of lands and excise for raising its financial resources going by the revenue receipts until the end of August this year.

Non-tax revenue at the end of August stood at ₹14,482 crore, a significant jump of over ₹12,600 crore, compared to the receipts by July-end, which were just ₹1,815 crore. The State has projected ₹22,808 crore non-tax revenue in the budget estimates, and the achievement was 63.5% by August-end, according to the provisional figures submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.

The spike in non-tax revenue was primarily on account of the leasing out of Outer Ring Road which fetched ₹7,380 crore in August and the balance of a little over ₹5,200 crore was through the sale of land at locations like Kokapet, where an acre of land fetched a record price of ₹100 crore.

The State government expected to raise around ₹7,000 crore through the auction of lands, but the figure fell short as some of the prospective bidders were reported to have not yet paid the due amount.

Another area that saw an increase in revenue receipts was State excise duties. Revenue through excise duties was ₹6,074 crore till the end of July and it crossed the ₹10,000 crore mark reaching ₹10,149 crore by August-end.

The steep increase was attributed to the advancement of the auction of liquor outlets for the excise year 2023-25 by the State government, which mobilised around ₹2,650 crore in the form of a one-time non-refundable application fee of ₹2 lakh each from nearly over 1.3 lakh applications received for 2,620 shops across the State.

Incidentally, there was no significant rise in revenue through other sources, including Goods and Services Tax, Income Tax, Stamps & Registration and State’s share of Union taxes showing the dependence on land sale and excise sectors.