Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy presents the Rs. 1,45,854 crore state Budget for the financial year 2012-13.
Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, on Friday, presented the Rs. 1,45,854 crore state Budget for the financial year 2012-13.
While the non-plan expenditure is estimated at Rs. 91,824 crore, the plan expenditure has been estimated at Rs. 54,030 crore. The estimated revenue surplus is Rs. 4,444 crore, and the fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs. 20,008 crore, at 2.5% of the GSDP.
The final accounts of 2010-11 show a revenue surplus of Rs. 2,462 crore, and the fiscal deficit is well within the FRBM Act, at Rs. 11,803 crore, which is 2.25% of the GSDP.
Presenting the Budget in the House, Ramnarayana Reddy said that the state's economy witnessed a strong growth phase since 2004-05.
"Between 2005-06 and 2011-12, while the country's economy grew at an impressive rate of 8.64%, the performance of the state's economy was even more impressive, with an average growth of 9.26%," he said.
However, the minister admitted that during the current financial year, the economy was unfavourable due to the slowdown of growth both at a national and an international level, thereby affecting the investment and consumption sentiment.
"The state faced a severe drought during last year's kharif, apart from agitations that disrupted normal functioning for long periods," he said.
"Despite this, it is a compliment to the resilience and the dynamism of the people of the state that its economy continues to show significant positive growth trends over the last year," he said.
The advance estimates of the Gross State Domestic Product at constant prices for the year 2011-12 is Rs. 4,07,949 crore as against the 2010-11 figures of Rs. 3,81,942 crore. The growth in GSDP during 2011-12 is, thus, 6.81%, compared to the corresponding national figure of 6.88%.
The Finance Minister said that the state has sought a financial assistance of Rs. 3,006 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund for the drought-hit areas.
In view of the state's continuing vulnerability to natural calamities like heavy rains, cyclones and drought, an amount of Rs. 560.99 crore has earmarked under the State Disaster Response Fund.
Under the World Bank assisted National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP), the state would create suitable infrastructure to mitigate the effects of cyclones in the coastal districts, with an outlay of Rs. 255 crore, for the year 2012-13.
Ramnarayana Reddy said that the overall growth in tax revenues during the year 2011-12, upto January 2012, was 19.5%. He hoped that the momentum of growth would be maintained over the remaining 2 months of the financial year.
Listing out the new schemes introduced the year, the minister skipped mentioning the exact budget allocations for all the schemes, during his speech.
However, he said that Rs. 777 crore has been provided across various departments for the Rajiv Yuva Kiranulu scheme, which aims to provide skill upgradation and job placement of 15 lakh unemployed youth in private jobs by 2014.
Further, Rs. 1,075 crore has been allocated for "Vaddi Leni Runalu" to provide interest-free loans to farmers and SHGs.
The government will spend Rs. 1,800 crore over the next 2 years under the Indira Jala Prabha program to dig one lakh borewells for cultivating 10 lakh acres of fallow lands spread over 22 districts. Rs. 600 crore will also be spent under NREGS schemes.
The government has increased the budget allocation for the agriculture sector. As against the allocation of Rs. 1,800 crore during 2011-12, this year, the government will spend Rs. 2,572 crore for the sector.
Similarly, a provision of Rs. 3,175 crore has been made for the Civil Supplies Department for 2012-13, as against the provision of Rs. 2,667 crore last year.
An amount of Rs. 1,106 crore has been allocated for the department under Budget 2012-13, which accounts for an increase of 34% over the last year.
The budget allocation for the fisheries department has been increased by 130%, to Rs. 234 crore. Similarly, with an increase of 69% over last year, an amount of Rs. 188 crore has been allocated for the sericulture department. The rural department got a 28% increase over last year, with Rs. 4,703 crore.
The minister admitted that as against the allocation of Rs. 15,010.05 crore during 2011-12, only Rs. 8,459 crore was spent upto January 2012. Therefore, the budget allocation has been restrained at the same level as last year.
However, the state plan allocation for the minor irrigation sector has been increased by Rs. 414.47 crore, raising the plan allocation to irrigation sector to Rs. 2,998.05.
Ramnarayana Reddy claimed that Andhra Pradesh is the 3rd best investment destination after Gujarat and Maharashtra, which have together attracted 54% of the total live investment of Rs. 120 lakh crore as on 31 December 2011.
An outlay of Rs. 633 crore has been proposed for the Industries Department during 2012-13, which is an increase of 78% over the last year.
The allocation for the industries sector has been increased by Rs. 100 crore, and an outlay of Rs. 151 crore has been proposed for it.
Similarly, with a 19% increase, Rs. 5,937 crore have been allocated for the energy sector. The transport, roads and buildings department got an increase in budget by 22%, to Rs. 5,032 crore.
The urban development sector, too, got a boost, with a 30% increase. For the year 2012-13, Rs. 6,586 crore has been allocated for the urban development sector.
The government will spend Rs. 15,510 crore for school education, Rs. 1,087 crore for technical education, and Rs. 1,841 crore for higher education during the year 2012-13. However, the minister did not specify the budget for scholarships to students. He did say that the government had committed Rs. 3,769 crore in 2010-11 and Rs. 3,872 crore in 2011-12.
The allocation for social welfare has been increased by 14% over last year, and an amount of Rs. 2,677 crore has been provided for the sector. The budget for tribal welfare, too, got an increase by 26% with an allocation of Rs. 1,540 crore. Backward classes welfare got a 43% hike, with Rs. 2,101 crore.
The government will spend Rs. 2,283 crore for women's welfare, and Rs. 66 crore for the disabled persons' welfare. The government has increased the Budget allocation for minorities' welfare by 62%, to take the figure to Rs. 489 crore.
Rs 5,040 crore will be spent for the health, medical and family welfare department; Rs. 2,303 crore for housing; Rs. 500 crore for employment and labour; and Rs. 220 crore for sports. (INN)