Jagan slams state govt for ‘cooked-up’ GSDP figures

Vijayawada: YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday alleged that the state government was projecting “cooked up” GSDP figures to create a false impression of rapid economic growth despite weak revenue performance.

He claimed that the state was facing an economic slowdown, clearly visible in government revenues, but the administration was “hoodwinking people” with inflated statistics prepared by the Chief Minister’s office rather than any independent agency.

“GSDP figures are being deliberately cooked up by the Andhra Pradesh government to project an illusion of rapid economic growth, even though the revenue performance clearly remains weak,” Reddy said in a post on ‘X’.

During FY 2024-25, the TDP-led coalition government claims nominal GSDP growth of 11.75 per cent against the national rate of 9.8 per cent, and estimates 10.75 per cent for 2025-26 against the national eight per cent. This shows a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.09 per cent over two years, the former chief minister said.

The state government said Andhra Pradesh ranked third in real Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth among all states this year. These figures are self-generated and lack credibility, he said.

The opposition leader argued that if such high growth were genuine, government revenues should have shown a similar rise, but CAG data for the first nine months revealed that tax revenues grew at a CAGR of only 1.97 per cent.

He said economists would find it puzzling how a state claiming 11.09 per cent GSDP growth could record such “abysmally low” tax revenue growth, calling it possible only through manipulation of numbers.

Pointing out the CAG accounts of 23 states, he said Andhra Pradesh ranked 22nd in tax revenue growth, second from the bottom nationally.

He observed that while central government gross tax revenues grew by 9.64 per cent during the same period, Andhra Pradesh managed only 1.97 per cent, contradicting claims that the state outperformed the Centre.

Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that, under the present leadership, the state would rank first only in debt, corruption, political vendetta and false propaganda.