Andhra Pradesh has been facing tremendous financial stress due to shrinking of revenue base, bludgeoning expenses, increase in establishment costs, interest payments, welfare commitments and loss of capital city as a major commercial hub, according to the report of AP Socio-Economic Survey for 2024-25 that was tabled in the state legislative assembly on Monday.
“This fiscal stress is the result of expenditure commitments rising faster and less than promised and anticipated flow of funds from government of India,” the survey conducted by the state planning department said.
According to the report, the revenue for the state in 2024-25 stood at ₹94,967 crore from own tax sources, including ₹36,296 crore from state goods and services tax (SGST), ₹21,300 crore from state excise (liquor), ₹18,505 from sales tax, ₹9,200 crore from stamps and registration and ₹4,655 crore from motor vehicle tax.
Besides, the state received revenue to the extent of ₹7,018 crore from its own non-tax sources, including ₹3,518 crore from mines and minerals.
With regard to resource flow from the Centre, the state received an amount of ₹89,157 crore in the form of central transfers, including ₹57,002 crore through tax devolution and grants from the finance commission, ₹17,036 crore in the form of grants-in-aid and ₹16.252 crore under externally aided projects.
During 2023-24, the state’s own tax revenue was ₹85,922 crore, non-tax revenue ₹7,432 crore and resource flow from the Centre was ₹84,157 crore, the socio-economic survey report said.
With regard to the state’s expenditure, the total expenditure by Andhra Pradesh, excluding expenditure on ways and means advance and public debt repayments was ₹2,49,418 crore in 2024-25, as against ₹2,36,512 crore in 2023-24.
The revenue expenditure during 2024-25 was ₹2,24,343 crore, as against ₹2,12,450 crore in 2023-24, for various welfare schemes, including rice subsidy, power subsidy, old age pensions and housing programmes.
The state incurred an expenditure of ₹21,102 crore on public debt repayment in 2024-25, compared to ₹13,070 crore during 2023-24.
The report said the state government had spent ₹24,072 crore on capital expenditure during 2024-25 for various capital works such as irrigation, roads and infrastructure, compared to ₹23,331 crore in the previous year.
Interestingly, the total debt of the state which was ₹4,91,734 crore at the end of 2023-24 financial year, mounted to ₹5,64,488 crore at the end of 2024-25, an increase of nearly ₹73,000 crore in the last one year. The composition of debt includes market borrowings, central loans, small savings loans, provident fund and other sources.
The market borrowings, which stood at ₹3,66,565 crore in 2023-24, increased to ₹4,24,070 crore in 2024-25. The state paid ₹32,944 crore as interest in 2024-25, as against ₹29,481 crore 2023-24.