State / UT
Telangana
Telangana is the 29th state of the Indian Union, formed on 2 June 2014 when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 split the Telugu-speaking territory of united Andhra Pradesh into two states. It holds a 2011 Census population of 350.04 lakh across 112,077 sq km and 33 districts, sends 17 members to the Lok Sabha and 7 to the Rajya Sabha, and is one of a minority of Indian states with a bicameral legislature — a 119-seat Assembly and a 40-seat Council. Its defining structural features are inherited from the bifurcation: Article 371D's constitutional guarantee of local quotas in public employment and education, a capital city it held in common with Andhra Pradesh for a decade, and Union-run river boards standing between it and its neighbour over Krishna and Godavari water.
Updated
- Capital
- Hyderabad
- Formed
- 2 June 2014 (29th state), under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014
- Legislature
- Bicameral — Legislative Assembly (119 seats), Legislative Council (40 seats)
- Lok Sabha seats
- 17
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 7
- Population (2011 Census)
- 350.04 lakh (35.0 million); 38.88% urban; literacy 66.54%
- Area
- 112,077 sq km; 33 districts
- GSDP (2025-26 BE)
- Rs 18,00,325 crore at current prices (PRS)
Role
Telangana is a federal actor of the second rank by size and the first rank by fiscal weight per head. Its 119-member Legislative Assembly and 40-member Legislative Council legislate on the State List and share the Concurrent List with Parliament; the Council makes it one of the few Indian states with a second chamber, giving the governing party a revising house it populates indirectly. In the Union Parliament the state carries 17 Lok Sabha and 7 Rajya Sabha seats — a modest bloc — but its economic position is disproportionate to that count: PRS puts Telangana’s 2025-26 GSDP at Rs 18,00,325 crore, and per capita GSDP for 2023-24 at Rs 3,93,385, among the highest for a large Indian state. That output is concentrated to an unusual degree in a single metropolitan region, Hyderabad, which anchors the state’s services and pharmaceutical base and supplies the bulk of its own-source revenue. The state’s fiscal frame for 2025-26 targets a fiscal deficit of 3.0% of GSDP against a budget of Rs 2,84,837 crore excluding debt repayment.
What is structurally distinctive about Telangana is that almost every one of its institutional peculiarities is a residue of how it was made. Article 371D, drafted in 1973 for united Andhra Pradesh, still binds Telangana’s public employment and educational admissions into local cadres and zones — a constitutional constraint on recruitment that most states do not carry. Hyderabad was held as a common capital with Andhra Pradesh for the ten years the Reorganisation Act allowed, with the Governor given a special law-and-order responsibility over it under Section 8; that term ran out on 2 June 2024 and the city is now Telangana’s alone. Water is administered not bilaterally but through the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards, Union bodies created under Section 85 of the same Act, which places the Ministry of Jal Shakti permanently inside the state’s most contested resource question and makes Centre-state relations here a matter of river allocation as much as of finance. The state has reorganised itself internally as well, expanding from the ten districts it inherited in 2014 to 33 today. Since December 2023 the governing party has changed for the first time since formation, and the 2024 caste survey has supplied the state’s case for reservation levels above the conventional ceiling — a claim that runs through the Union government and the courts rather than through the state legislature alone.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Telangana merged into Andhra Pradesh under the States Reorganisation Act
The Telangana region of the former Hyderabad State was merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh, accompanied by a Gentlemen's Agreement setting out safeguards for Telangana in employment, education and office-holding. The perceived non-implementation of those safeguards is the origin of the statehood demand.
- reference
Six-Point Formula and the 32nd Amendment insert Article 371D
After the 1969 agitation, a political settlement produced the Six-Point Formula. The Constitution (Thirty-second Amendment) Act gave it constitutional force through Article 371D, which empowers the President to provide for equitable opportunity in public employment and education across the parts of the state. Article 371D continues to apply to both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation.
- reference
Union government announces it will initiate the statehood process
The Union Home Minister announced that the Centre would begin the process of forming Telangana, subject to a resolution of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. The announcement triggered counter-agitation in the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions and the process stalled.
- reference
Srikrishna Committee reports on the bifurcation question
The Union-appointed committee submitted a 505-page report setting out options for united Andhra Pradesh. It acknowledged Telangana's grievances but placed bifurcation as a second-best option to be adopted only if a united state proved untenable.
- official
Telangana formed as the 29th state on the appointed day
Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill (Lok Sabha 18 February, Rajya Sabha 20 February 2014); presidential assent followed on 1 March 2014 and the appointed day was 2 June 2014. Ten districts of united Andhra Pradesh became Telangana. The Act designated Hyderabad the permanent capital of Telangana and the temporary capital of Andhra Pradesh for a period not exceeding ten years, gave the Governor a special responsibility for law and order in the common capital under Section 8, and required the Union to constitute the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards under Section 85.
- reference
Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project opened on the Godavari
The multi-stage lift scheme, reported at a cost of about Rs 80,190 crore, was inaugurated. In October 2020 the National Green Tribunal held that the scheme had been constructed without following statutory environmental provisions and directed that work be halted except for the drinking-water component. The project has since been the state's largest single capital commitment and a recurring subject of audit and inquiry.
- reference
First change of governing party since formation
Polling was held on 30 November 2023 with a 71.97% turnout; counting on 3 December returned the Indian National Congress and its ally with 65 of 119 seats, against 39 for the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, 8 for the Bharatiya Janata Party and 7 for the AIMIM. It was the first transfer of power in the state since 2014.
- reference
Ten-year common-capital term for Hyderabad expires
The Reorganisation Act capped Hyderabad's role as common capital at ten years from the appointed day. Andhra Pradesh had already shifted its secretariat out in 2016 and its legislature in 2017; with the term run out, Hyderabad functions solely as Telangana's capital and the Governor's Section 8 special responsibility over the common capital no longer has a common capital to attach to.
- reference
State caste survey results released
The Social, Educational, Employment, Economic and Caste Survey ran from 6 November 2024 and covered a reported 96.9% of households. Results released on 3 February 2025 put Backward Classes at 46.33%, Scheduled Castes at 17.43%, Scheduled Tribes at 10.45%, other castes at 15.79% and Muslims at 12.56% of the enumerated population. The survey is the evidentiary basis on which the state has pressed for enlarged Backward Class reservation.
Frequently asked
- What is Telangana?
- Telangana is the 29th state of the Indian Union, formed on 2 June 2014 when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 split the Telugu-speaking territory of united Andhra Pradesh into two states. It holds a 2011 Census population of 350.04 lakh across 112,077 sq km and 33 districts, sends 17 members to the Lok Sabha and 7 to the Rajya Sabha, and is one of a minority of Indian states with a bicameral legislature — a 119-seat Assembly and a 40-seat Council. Its defining structural features are inherited from the bifurcation: Article 371D's constitutional guarantee of local quotas in public employment and education, a capital city it held in common with Andhra Pradesh for a decade, and Union-run river boards standing between it and its neighbour over Krishna and Godavari water.
- When was Telangana established?
- Telangana was established 2014-06-02.
- What does Telangana do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order and the state police, land and revenue administration, agriculture and irrigation, public health, school and higher education, and local government, Fiscal powers: State GST, stamp duty and registration, excise, and state borrowing under Article 293, Article 371D special provisions — local-cadre organisation of public employment and reserved education admissions, with an Administrative Tribunal mechanism, carried over from united Andhra Pradesh, Bicameral legislature: a directly elected Assembly and an indirectly elected/nominated Council, Shared water administration with Andhra Pradesh through the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards constituted by the Union under the Reorganisation Act.
- What is the latest on Telangana?
- As of 2026-07-17: State caste survey results released. The Social, Educational, Employment, Economic and Caste Survey ran from 6 November 2024 and covered a reported 96.9% of households. Results released on 3 February 2025 put Backward Classes at 46.33%, Scheduled Castes at 17.43%, Scheduled Tribes at 10.45%, other castes at 15.79% and Muslims at 12.56% of the enumerated population. The survey is the evidentiary basis on which the state has pressed for enlarged Backward Class reservation.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
-
State government's official portal
www.telangana.gov.in/
-
Official area, district, and 2011 Census demographic figures
www.telangana.gov.in/about/state-profile/
- Telangana Legislature legislation
Assembly and Council proceedings, members, business
tlegislature.telangana.gov.in/
-
Electoral rolls and state election administration under the ECI
ceotelangana.nic.in/
-
Independent analysis of GSDP, deficit and debt
prsindia.org/budgets/states/telangana-budget-analysis-2025-2