Ahead of the 2026-27 Union Budget, the expectations of the Telangana center are favorable given the long “wish list” that the Revanth Reddy government has been highlighting for months in terms of financial assistance and necessary facilities.
The Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-II expansion as well as the ambitious rejuvenation of the Musi River and the Regional Ring Road top the list of major projects for which the state government is eyeing the Centre, though the possibility of pleasant surprises for Telangana looks remote if the budget is anything to go by in recent years.
The FY27 budget is also widely expected to be more oriented towards the poll-bound states of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, apart from the Union Territory of Puducherry. Global geopolitical dynamics and countermeasures to sustain growth are also likely to affect the budget.
Infrastructure funding, urban development grants and fulfillment of promises made under the AP Reorganization Act, 2014 are the main areas under which the state government’s wish list can be broadly divided. At the Telangana Rising Global Summit in December, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy laid out the broad outlines of the ambitious Future City Bharat near Hyderabad, a multi-zonal and diversified approach his government intends to push for inclusive growth.
Every component in the wish list, be it the regional ring road with a funding requirement of nearly ₹ 35,000 crore, or the proposal to build radial roads that will serve as a vital link between the existing Outer Ring Road and the RRR, as well as the over 70 km long second phase of the Hyderabad Metro Rail, are essential to accelerate the development of the city of Hyderabad. A dry port for the landlocked state and a highway connecting it to a seaport in Andhra Pradesh, development of new airports, approval of new railway lines are other infrastructure projects for which Telangana is seeking support from the Centre.
The Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues have repeatedly pushed for the establishment of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Hyderabad, more Navodaya Vidyalayas and Kendriya Vidyalayas, approvals for thousands of rural houses and better allocations under central schemes, besides greater fiscal freedom and measures to correct imbalances due to the decline in the share of divisible taxes. Development projects in Warangal, supporting clusters like Kakatiya Mega Textile Park and seeking a bigger role in the India Semiconductor Mission are aspects they highlight. Under the AP Reorganization Act, the state is consistently eyeing two projects – a steel plant in Bayyaram and a rail car factory in Kazipet.
Politically, for the BJP-led NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the FY27 budget will present an opportunity to capture the imagination of the people in the state ruled by the main opposition Congress through Telangana-specific announcements, even though the Assembly elections are sometime behind us.
Published – 31 Jan 2026 21:07 IST
