AP Budget in for big leap
The budget for Andhra Pradesh is in for a big leap. The Budget 2016-17 presented by Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu lays greater emphasis on agriculture and irrigation. Stating that the government had inherited an unfortunate scenario which leaves him in an unenviable position to deal with the complexities and problems, the Finance Minister promised to reinvent the process of building the economy
Hyderabad: The budget for Andhra Pradesh is in for a big leap. The Budget 2016-17 presented by Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu lays greater emphasis on agriculture and irrigation. Stating that the government had inherited an unfortunate scenario which leaves him in an unenviable position to deal with the complexities and problems, the Finance Minister promised to reinvent the process of building the economy of the state once again.
Presenting the first e-Budget for Rs 1,35,689 crore for 2016-17, with an estimated fiscal deficit of Rs 20,497 crore and revenue deficit of Rs 4,868 crore, the Finance Minister said the budget marks an increase of 20 per cent over the previous budget.
Claiming that the government continues to face several challenges, of which the most daunting has been to find the resources required for financing the development needs of the state, he said he was presenting an outlay for financing the state development plan which is set to go up by 42.8 per cent to Rs 49,134.4 crore while the non-plan expenditure will grow by 10 per cent to Rs 86,554.6 crore in 2016-17, the finance minister said.
"We continue to carry a revenue deficit of Rs 13,897 crore inherited from 2014-15 as a consequence of irrational bifurcation of the state," he said. The bifurcation also resulted in the residuary state receiving 46 per cent of the revenues of the combined entity with 58.3 per cent of its population. This resulted in a revenue deficit of Rs 16,200 crore in the first 10 months of the new state's existence.
"Thus far, the Central government released only Rs 2,303 crore to bridge the resource gap, leaving the state with a huge revenue deficit overhang of Rs 13,897 crore," Ramakrishnudu said."The legacy of huge revenue deficit, an overhang from 2014-15, will continue to haunt us in 2016-17. We expect the central government to step up its support to the state development plan in the form of increased central assistance and special grants...
To partially offset the revenue deficit of 2014-15," the minister said.However, the minister said the state's own revenues were expected to grow by 16 per cent, to Rs 57,813 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 49,764 crore in 2015-16.Yanamala hoped that the Centre would release Rs 935 crore as compensation towards central sales tax due to the state and also provide Rs 3,500 crore for construction of the Polavaram irrigation project. He sought the Centre's support for construction of the state's new capital Amaravati with a grant of Rs 1,000 crore.
"We earnestly hope that the goods and services tax legislation will be passed by Parliament and will become operational in 2016-17," the minister added.The Finance minister expressed happiness that the growth has been fairly equitable across the sectors, in harmony with the inclusive development agenda of the government. Agriculture, he said registered a growth of 8.4 percent compared to the national average of 1.12 percent; services sector has recorded a growth of 11.39 percent against India’s 9.19 percent and industry sector has grown at 11.13 percent compared to performance to the national performance of 7.35 percent.
The main thrust of agricultural development strategy would be build to resilence that would insulate annual crops from the vagaries of nature, climate change and markets, while improving the productivity and increased returns to farmers. He said he was allocating Rs 5,838.65 crore for agriculture development . Of this Rs 50 crore is for drought proofing, Rs 41 crore for creation of viable farm livelihoods by promotion of organic and natural farming and Rs 344 crore for Pradhan mantra Fasal Bima Yojana (all new schemes) and Rs 54 crore for national mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology.
What’s in for districts
Five greenfield airports - Bhogapuram, Dagadarthi (Nellore), Orvakallu (Kurnool), Nagarjunasagar and Donakonda (Prakasam)
Four Industrial Nodes – Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and Kurnool-Benguluru Industrial corridor. Visakahapatnam, Kakinada, Srikalahasti- Yerpedu and Gannavaram- Kankipadu for the Vizag Chennai Industial Corridor
Nodes – Chennai- Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and Kurnool- Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. Krishnapatnam, Kalikiri and Hindupur
Convention Centres - Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada Regional Science Centres - Visakhapatnam and Anantapuram
Integrated Sports Complexes – Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada
National Investment Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ)- Prakasam and Chittoor districts with an investment of Rs 43,700 crore and Rs 30,000 croreWorld Class incubator at – Tirupati with Rs 100 croreCyber School of Excellence – Tirupati (in collaboration with Israel)
New cultural auditoriums - Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Mega Industrial Hub – Orvakallu (Kurnool) in 27,788 acres with Rs 40,000 crore investment Science City – Amaravati; Coastal Museum – Vijayawada; Cultural complex - Kakinada
Peninsular Region Industrial Development Corridor (PRIDE) project – Donakonda (Prakasam) in 5,779 acres with Rs 23,000 crore investment Port development through PPP - Machilipatnam and Bhavanapadu Museums to promote Tourism – Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Eluru Multi-Model Logistic Parks - Kakinada, Krishnapatnam and Visakhapatnam
