Telangana’s share of central taxes (tax devolution) has gone up by 128% between the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions (2015 to 2020), said revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey.

Pandey, who was addressing a press conference with union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Hyderabad on Sunday, said that the state’s share is one of the highest in the country.

Pandey’s statement came on a query about Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) criticising the Union Budget 2020 over the state seeing a slash in the central tax allocated to it. The Centre had come under severe criticism from KCR, who called this financial year’s budget “disappointing" and termed it as “discrimination".

“Between the 14th and 15th Finance Commission (2015 to 2020), the increase is 128%, means what was 100 has become 228. And this is one of the highest ratios, much higher than other states. The percentage of tax devolution is decided by the Finance Commission and it has increased in the last 5 years," Pandey said. He added that the amount had gone up from Rs46,000 crore to a little over Rs1.06 lakh crore.