The expenditure on salaries and pensions increased in nearly 10 years.
| Photo Credit: GRAPHICS: M VENKAT RAO
The expenditure incurred by the Telangana Government on payment of salaries/wages and pensions to employees of different categories is mounting every passing year even as the Government is yet to announce its decision on the second Pay Revision Commission (PRC) headed by senior bureaucrat N. Shiva Shankar.According to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the salary bill on employees on pay rolls was ₹25,769 crore in 2022-23 and payment of pensions accounted for another ₹15,816 crore the same year. Salaries of regular employees which was ₹10,639 crore in 2014-15, the first year of the State formation, almost doubled the next year 2015-16 to ₹18,065 crore mainly because of the huge fitment benefit announced by the BRS Government. The same was the case with pensions which increased from ₹4,210 crore to ₹8,217 crore during the period.The next steep increase in the salary and pension payments was between 2021-22 and 2022-23 from ₹22,150 crore to ₹25,679 crore and ₹14,025 crore to ₹15,816 crore respectively when the Government implemented the recommendations of the PRC headed by retired bureaucrat C.R. Biswal.Telangana’s expenditure on salaries and pensionsFinancial yearSalaryPensionTotal2014-15₹10,639 crore₹4,210 crore₹14,849 crore2015-16₹18,065 crore₹8,217 crore₹26,282 crore2021-22₹22,150 crore₹14,025 crore₹36,175 crore2022-23₹25,679 crore₹15,816 crore₹41,495 croreThe expenditure on hiked salaries and pensions was in addition to the payments that are being made for different categories of employees like work charged staff, grant in aid employees, home guards, daily wage workers and contract and outsourcing staff among others. Though there were huge number of village revenue assistants and village revenue officers - 40,561 as on March 2021 — the then Government had dispensed with their services on the ground that the system was rid with corruption. While some of them were terminated, others were absorbed into other departments.The Congress Government which came to power in December 2023 however restored the village revenue administration through gram panchayat officers system of late which is likely to enhance the expenditure further.According to an estimate prepared by the Planning department in the past, there were over 9.16 lakh employees working in different categories in the Government. Of these, employees on the payroll and pensioners constituted 5.7 lakh and the remaining 3.6 lakh were othersGiven the spree of recruitments to various posts since the past one year, the outgo on account of salary payments is expected to contribute a significant chunk in the coming days. Senior officials however contended that the difference was unlikely to be much as the posts that are being filled were the existing vacancies, payment for which has been factored in the budget estimates.Implementation of the recommendations of the PRC headed by Mr. Shiva Shankar was due from July 1, 2023 and it was for the Government to take a call on this, according to officials.Apart from regular employees (on payrolls) and retired employees, Telangana incurs expenditure on salaries paid to other categories of employeesCategories of employees in Telangana and total number of them as on March 22, 2021, as per Planning departmentEmployees categoryRegular employeesPensioners (Service+family pensioners)Anganwadi workersContract employeesOutsourcing employeesASHA workersVillage Revenue AssistantsVillage Revenue OfficersGrant-in-aidDaily wage employeesHome GuardsWork chargedFull time contingentPart time contingentSERP employeesVIDYA volunteers Published - October 03, 2025 06:31 pm IST
