HYDERABAD: Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday said that the economic growth rate in the state, at constant prices, declined by 1%, to 6.5% in 2023-24 from 7.5% in the previous year whereas the increase in growth rate was a marginal 0.1 per cent at the national level.
“This shows that the Telangana economy experienced a sharp decline in growth,” Vikramarka said.
He said that irrigation became a bane for Telangana as the previous government had pursued a policy of benefiting contractors. ‘’We have a responsibility to investigate and bring to book the misdemeanours of the persons who indulged in this faulty and corrupt policy. We promised the people that a thorough inquiry would be made on the quality of construction, ill-conceived designs and corruption involved in the projects of Annaram, Medigadda and Sundilla barrages. Our action will be in tune with what we promised to the people’’ Vikramarka said.
“As micro and small industries play a major role in providing employment opportunities, we propose to develop clusters to establish micro and small industries in order to tap this potential. The state government will effectively tap funds from the Centre’s Micro Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme programme. Utilising PM Mitra funds, we will develop Kakatiya Mega Textile Park. We will also be setting up two leather parks with Centre’s assistance,” he said.
Inflation
The differing growth rates at current and constant prices between Telangana and India suggest a higher rate of inflation in the state compared to the national average. This is further evidenced by the higher Consumer Price Index in Telangana, which stood at 6.65% in December 2023, placing the state fifth in terms of inflation rate, compared to India’s 5.69%.
Sectoral growth rates
In financial year 2023–24, Telangana’s economy demonstrated varied performances across its sub-sectors, influenced by a range of factors. The primary sector, particularly agriculture, experienced a notable decline. The Gross Value Added in the crops sub-sector decreased from Rs 49,059 crore in 2022–23 to Rs 45,723 crore in 2023–24.
This significant drop, which translated into a growth rate of -6.8%, was primarily due to adverse seasonal conditions. The Southwest monsoon was delayed by 17 days, and there were large fluctuations in rainfall during the season. Notably, during the critical stages of crop growth in August and October, rainfall was markedly deficient.
These conditions, coupled with prolonged dry spells groundwater depletion and insufficient water levels in the Krishna basin, led to a drastic reduction in the sown area of key crops such as paddy, cotton, maize, red gram, and Bengal gram.
