Telangana government wants FRBM limit hiked to 5 per cent

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has demanded the GST Council to increase the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limit to 5 per cent from the current 3 per cent to go for more borrowings to overcome the current financial crisis due to the prevailing corona pandemic. State Finance Minister T Harish Rao and top officials of the TS government attended the virtual GST Council meeting presided over by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from New Delhi on Friday.

Harish poured out financial woes of the state before the Union minister and insisted for the enhancement of FRBM limit to avail more borrowings.

Steep fall in the state revenues forced the TS government to cut down expenditure on welfare and development activities drastically and diverted all available financial resources to the Health sector, he explained. He also took strong exception to the inclusion of neutral alcohol under the GST purview.

This would put extra burden on the state by losing the revenues generated under the State Owned Tax Revenues (SOTR), he said, adding that many other states had already opposed the Centre's move.

Harish brought to the notice of the Union minister that Telangana had registered 23.10 per cent fiscal deficit and requested the release of GST compensation in view of the economic slowdown for the second consecutive year. He also asked the Centre to rescue the states from cess and surcharge burden in the release of tax devolution.

The minister also demanded the immediate release of IGST (Integrated Goods and Service Tax) arrears to Telangana.