Official refutes allegations on Andhra Pradesh’s debts

Official refutes allegations on Andhra Pradesh’s debts. As per an RBI report, the total outstanding liability of the Government of Andhra Pradesh at the end of March 2023 was ₹4,28,715.70 crore, says Duvvuri Krishna, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

The total outstanding liability of the Government of Andhra Pradesh at the end of March 2023 was ₹4,28,715.70 crore as per the ‘State Finances - A study of Budgets’ report published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Duvvuri Krishna, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat, Mr. Krishna, while refuting a report published in a vernacular daily, gave details of the debts of the government.

He said the RBI had taken into consideration the audited figures released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) before publishing the report.

Mr. Krishna said the outstanding liabilities of the combined State of Andhra Pradesh as on March 31, 2014, were ₹1,96,202.40 core. “To this, ₹7,333 crore should added as this was the fiscal deficit for the first two months of the 2014-15 financial year. Of this, as per the State Reorganisation Act, 58% is devolved to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, we can say that the liability of the State of Andhra Pradesh at the time of formation of the TDP government in June 2014 was ₹1,18,050 crore. This had increased to ₹2,64,451 crore as of March 31, 2019,” he said.

The total liabilities and non-guaranteed PSU liabilities stood at ₹1,53,346.57 crore at the time of bifurcation. This had increased to ₹4,12,288.04 crore by the end of the TDP term, and as of March 2023, it further increased to ₹6,38,217.85 crore, he explained.