Bhatti presents welfare oriented 2026-27 budget for Telangana with emphasis on urban and rural development

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka presented a welfare oriented budget for the 2026-27 financial year in the Legislative Assembly on Friday (March 20, 2026) with a heavy accent on both urban and rural development.

₹26,674 crore for Education dept

The Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department — which implements a spree of programmes including the MGNREGS and HAM roads — has received allocation of ₹33,688 crore and the Education department has been earmarked a high of ₹26,674 crore. As announced by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy about completion of all pending irrigation projects in a stipulated time, the Irrigation sector has been given ₹22,615 crore.

₹17,907 crore for MAUD

The Municipal Administration and Urban Development department has been given ₹17,907 crore. This department handles agencies like the HMDA and HYDRAA, and it is the nodal agency for ambitious projects like Hyderabad Metro Rail and the Chief Minister’s pet project Musi Rjuvenation. The Home department has been earmarked ₹11,907 crore.

“A budget is not just about calculations and numbers, it is about people. A budget is an accounting of measures that can transform the conditions of people’s lives,” the Deputy Chief Minister said starting his more than one-hour speech. He said the Congress government was rectifying the financial and systemic destruction caused by the previous government even as it continued to repay old debts and interest on them, maintaining fiscal discipline.

Explaining the State’s fiscal situation, he said the GSDP at current prices was ₹17.82 lakh crore registering growth rate of 10.7% over the previous year. The country’s GDP stood at ₹357 lakh crore during the same period with growth rate of 8%. “Telangana’s growth rate is 2.7% higher than the national average,” he pointed out. Likewise, the State accounted for 5% of the national GDP, making it a strong growth engine for the country.

Although the country’s growth was slowing down, Telangana’s growth rate was showing improvement, he said. The growth rate of national GDP — which was 9.8% in 2024-25 — declined to 8% during the current fiscal. Telangana, however, registered a marginally higher growth from 10.6% to 10.7% during the same period. “This is evidence that policies implemented by our government are moving in the right direction and are contributing to development,” he said.

Per capita income

On the per capita income, he said the State’s per capita income was ₹4.18 lakh while the national per capita income was ₹2.19 lakh, resulting in Telangana’s per capita being higher by ₹1.96 lakh, 1.9 times than the national average.

The Minister lamented that the previous government did not properly utilise the Centrally Sponsored Schemes from 2014-23 and even the funds sanctioned by the Centre were diverted for other needs resulting in stoppage of funds by the Centre. The Congress government identified the situation and released nearly ₹3,000 crore to all departments under pending funds of CSS. This resulted in the State securing ₹7,072 crore so far from the Centre this financial year.

Restructuring brought down loans to₹11,915 crore

At the same time, the State had restructured loans of ₹25,612 crore raised by the previous government at high interest rates to low interest loans and the principal repayment tenure was extended. As a result, the amount payable from 2025-26 to 2031-32 was reduced from ₹34,058 crore to ₹11,915 crore. “This financial year we have converted high interest loans of about ₹27,988 crore into lower interest loans,” he said.