Impressed by TG’s fiscal health, FC lauds State for boosting urban devpt

Hyderabad: The 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said he was impressed by the presentation made by the Telangana government on the state of its finances and its development plans going forward. The Commission praised the State for achieving desirable results in urban development. Addressing the press after holding a meeting with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and ministers here on Tuesday, he said, “We had very frank discussions with the government which briefed us about the finances, liabilities on budget and off-budget. The State was very upfront about its finances and how they see the finances going forward”.

Telangana is ahead of many states in the country in urban development which has been neglected in the country, he added.

The Commission Chairman said that the 16th Finance Commission was open to listening to the views of all States and to consider all possibilities, including their grievances on facing a cut in central allocations despite better performance on the economy front. There was a lot of emphasis on taking into account Telangana's contribution to the national GDP and to give an important place to the state's GSDP in deciding upon the horizontal division of the funds among the 28 states of the country.

"It was very similar to what we also heard in Karnataka. At this stage, for the Commission, it's early in the game. So, we really don't know where we are going to come out eventually. We still have 22 more states to visit. But, that was the pitch of Telangana state," he said. To a query if the Commission would consider raising the percentage of devolution (in favour of the States) as the Centre is understood to reflect economic buoyancy, he declined to comment at this stage.