The State’s revenue receipts continued to be below the expected levels at the end of the second quarter of the current financial year, with revenue receipts not reaching at least 50% in a majority of sectors, except for Sales Tax and Goods and Services Tax.
On the expenditure front, however, the State reached 77.76% in terms of interest payments and 96.6% on pension payments. Against the interest payment of ₹21,304 crore budgeted for the fiscal year, the State repaid ₹16,565 crore till the end of September, with six more months to go, indicating that the interest burden will continue to weigh on the State finances. The Government spent ₹14,235 crore on pension payments, clocking in at 96.6% of the ₹14,736 crore budget estimate.
Expenditure on salaries and wages reached ₹26,258 crore in the first six months, which is 52.23% of the ₹48,358 crore budget provision. The State is bracing for higher expenditure as it will implement the release of two instalments of Dearness Allowance from October’s salary, payable in November.
Revenue-earning departments like GST (₹29,565 crore), Stamps and Registration (₹9,033 crore), Sales Tax (₹18,830 crore), and State Excise duties (₹10,470 crore) continued to rise moderately; revenue through non-tax sources and Grants-in-Aid and Contributions remained dry at ₹5,754 crore and ₹3,705 crore, respectively. This is against the budget estimates of ₹35,730 crore through non-tax revenue and ₹24,166 crore through grants-in-aid and contributions for the fiscal year.
Expenditure on salaries and wages reached ₹26,258 crore in the first six months, which is 52.23% of the ₹48,358 crore budget provision. The State is bracing for higher expenditure as it will implement the release of two instalments of Dearness Allowance from October’s salary, payable in November.
The State’s overall revenue receipts at the end of the first half were ₹92,013 crore, just 38.14% of the ₹2.41 lakh crore projected in the budget estimates. Borrowings and other liabilities constitute almost half of the revenue at ₹44,612 crore. The Government, according to RBI reports, availed net borrowings of ₹25,900 crore and gross borrowings of ₹36,900 crore till the end of August, indicating the quantum of repayment of principal and interest on loans borrowed earlier. This “evergreening” of loans, i.e., securing new loans to repay old ones, would not come under regular borrowings, giving some relief to the state and allowing it space to raise loans to meet its immediate requirements.
Meanwhile, the State is experiencing high inflation, along with a few others. Inflation ranged from 2.9% to 6.9% across states/UTs, while Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry recorded inflation in excess of 6% across both rural and urban areas.
Published - October 25, 2026 04:09 pm IST