Andhra presents Rs 1 lakh cr Budget

A massive increase in investments for irrigation and social sectors while maintaining a year-on-year growth in expenditure at over Rs 20,000 crore marked the Andhra Pradesh government's annual Budget that took the overall expenditure size to a record figure of over Rs 1 lakh crore. The Budget was presented to the Assembly on Saturday.

"My secretaries told me that our budget size has surpassed that of the neighbouring Bangladesh," chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy said while stating that the overall economic growth of the state under his government had helped achieve this feat.

Election year compulsions combined with the saturation model adopted by the government in housing, besides higher allocations for irrigation, saw a 44 per cent increase in the proposed annual Plan outlay at Rs 43,203 crore, as compared with the current Plan outlay of Rs 32,975 crore.

The proposed outlay accounts for 43 per cent of the total budgetary expenditure in the new financial year, as compared with 32 per cent in the current Budget.

While the allocations for irrigation and housing sectors alone have crossed the 50-percent mark at Rs 22,350 crore in the proposed Plan outlay, non-plan expenditure, however, is estimated to grow only by 8 per cent at Rs 51,885 crore as compared with Rs 46,623 crore in the current year. The centrally-sponsored schemes are at Rs 5,348 crore.

State finance minister K Rosaiah also announced the Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme that covers 80 per cent the total households in the state, while enhancing the rice subsidy support by 175 per cent at Rs 1,980 crore, as compared with Rs 720 crore this year.

In an effort to ramp up support among various sections in rural areas, the government has announced Rs 1,390 crore (Rs 810 crore) for social pensions for the aged, destitute and orphans, and close to Rs 750 crore (Rs 396 crore) towards scholarships and tuition fee reimbursement for BC, SC, ST and minority students.

Besides, rural roads along with a new scheme for development of linked roads have been allocated close to Rs 1,500 crore.

Interestingly, even while proposing a rise in the overall expenditure for the year, the government has proposed to maintain the fiscal responsibility parameters by keeping the fiscal deficit at 2.82 per cent of the GSDP (gross state domestic product) as compared with the 3 per cent ceiling imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) and showing a revenue surplus of Rs 709 crore, which is 0.2 per cent of the GSDP.

Higher budgetary expenditure is largely sought to be supported by higher income with a 37 per cent growth in share of central taxes at Rs 12,597 crore, and a 21 per cent growth in state's own income at Rs 37,866 crore and huge non-tax income at Rs 8,873 crore, which include income from sale of land, besides grant in aid from the centre.

While revenue receipts have been pegged at Rs 70,927 crore as compared with Rs 56,126 crore this year, capital receipts (all kinds of borrowings) stand at Rs 29,643 crore, as compared with Rs 23,739 crore in the new annual Budget.