Telangana debt on the rise: Centre

New Delhi: The debts in Telangana State are increasing year after year, according to the Union Government. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudary said that Telangana stood at 11th position among the states which had gone in for heavy borrowings.

The Minister said Telangana's debt burden has increased to Rs 3.12 lakh crore from Rs 1.6 lakh crore in just four years' time. The debt burden in the GSDP was also at 27.4 per cent which is above the limits. The states which maintain debt below 25 per cent of the total GSDP were only maintaining healthy financial status, he said.

The Minister said Telangana's total debt in 2018 was Rs 1.6 lakh crore whereas during the current financial year it had risen to Rs 3.12 lakh. Similarly, the debt in the GSDP in 2016 was 15.6 per cent only.

The excess borrowings from the financial institutions and special loans from the banks under corporations were the main reasons for the rapid increase of the debt in the state economy for the last five years, the minister said in his reply.