Andhra's borrowings in first half of fiscal year far exceed revenues

The Andhra Pradesh

government's borrowings for the first half of the 2020-21 fiscal far exceeded revenues and the revenue deficit touched a staggering Rs 45,472.77 crore, according to the state finance accounts released by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

It said the state borrowed Rs 55,169.84 crore from different sources in the first six months as against Rs 48,295.59 crore target for the entire fiscal.

The revenue accruals, on the other hand, were just 27.73 per cent at Rs 44,915.52 crore in the first half out of the targeted Rs 1,61,958.50 crore for the year.

AP's tax revenue during the April-September period was just Rs 29,936.39 crore, compared to Rs 41,904.25 crore during the corresponding period last year, the report, released on Friday, said.

"It's obvious that the coronavirus-induced lockdown had a telling impact on the revenues and hence the steep decline in income," a senior official of the Finance department said.

Since the revenues had fallen sharply, the government had to rely on borrowings heavily, he noted.

Though various tax rates were increased in the last couple of months, they have not yet fully reflected in the revenues.

"We may see some increase in the coming months," the official added.

The state, though, received Rs 13,678.79 crore in grants from the Centre, a substantial increase from Rs 9,230.20 crore during the corresponding period last year.

With more freebie schemes launched this year, the revenue expenditure showed a sharp increase from Rs 23,397.69 crore during April-September 2019-20 to Rs 54,206.63 crore during the same period in the current year.

The capital expenditure too showed a significant jump to Rs 9,331.90 crore this year, compared to Rs 3,338.59 crore last year, the report said.