A new Reserve Bank of India study reveals Telangana's soaring costs for salaries, pensions, and subsidies are eating up a large part of the state budget. For 2025-26, salary and wages expenses are estimated to cross ₹63,344 crore, a sharp rise from ₹10,801.4 crore in 2014-15, the year Telangana was formed. The spending includes salaries for regular employees and payments to contract, daily wage, and other workers. A steep jump happened between 2022-23 and 2023-24, when salary expenses rose from ₹36,161 crore to ₹60,908 crore. This increase is linked to a 30% fitment benefit approved beyond the Pay Revision Commission's recommendations. Pension payments also surged beyond budgeted amounts. In 2023-24, pension budget was ₹13,024 crore but actual spending hit ₹16,841 crore. For the current year, pensions exceeded estimates of ₹13,109 crore and reached ₹14,126 crore by December-end. Subsidy costs, mostly for free power to farmers, jumped from ₹6,303 crore in 2018-19 to ₹21,237 crore in 2024-25 and are projected at ₹21,347 crore this year. This rising financial burden on salaries, pensions, and subsidies leaves Telangana with limited funds for other developmental projects, says the RBI report titled “State Finances: A study of budgets 2025-26.”