Andhra govt presents Rs 3.22 lakh crore welfare-focused budget for 2025-26

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh budget for the fiscal 2025-26 tabled on Friday by the TDP-led government accorded top priority to welfare schemes, promising to dole out Rs 20,000 per annum for farmers, doubling financial relief for fishermen during the ban period and Rs 15,000 to school going children up to the intermediate level under "Talliki Vandanam" scheme.

The "Talliki Vandanam" scheme is one of the Super Six promises made by the ruling bloc during the 2024 Assembly polls.

Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav tabled the Rs 3.22 lakh crore budget and proposed Rs 20,281 crore for the Scheduled Caste (SC) component, Rs 8,159 crore for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) component, Rs 47,456 crore for the Backward Classes (BC) component and Rs 5,434 crore for the welfare of minority communities.

"I take pride in announcing that the government is launching the Talliki Vandanam scheme, to provide financial support of Rs 15,000 in the academic year 2025-26. The scheme will cover children enrolled in Classes I to XII in both government and private schools," Keshav said.

"No matter in what financial situation we are in, our farmers will receive Rs 20,000 annually under the Annadata Sukhibhava scheme," he said.

For Deepam - 2 scheme, which offers three free gas cylinders per year to over 90 lakh eligible beneficiaries, Keshav allocated Rs 2,601 crore in 2025 – 26.

Other than partially fulfilling Deepam - 2 for FY25 and inking deals worth Rs 6.5 lakh crore with a potential to create four lakh jobs, the state government is yet to implement most of the Super Six promises.

However, Rs 6,300 crore and Rs 9,407 crore have been earmarked for Annadata Sukhibhava and Thalliki Vandanam respectively in the budget for financial year 2025-26.

Keshav also announced the doubling of financial relief to Rs 20,000 for fishermen during the fishing ban period.

He told the House that the TDP-led government is planning to implement insurance-based health coverage of Rs 25 lakh per family in the next fiscal.

The budget of over Rs 3.22 lakh crore encompasses an estimated revenue expenditure of Rs 2.51 lakh crore and capital expenditure of Rs 40,635 crore.

Keshav, while presenting the budget said the estimated revenue deficit is around Rs 33,185 crore (1.82 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product) and the fiscal deficit is around Rs 79,926 crore (4.38 per cent of the GSDP).

The budget proposed an allocation of Rs 31,805 crore for school education and Rs 19,264 crore for the Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department.

The Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department, a portfolio held by Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, got Rs 18,847 crore.

Allocating Rs 13,862 crore to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department, Keshav asserted that the greenfield capital city Amaravati has proved to become a self-financing project without state budget assistance as the financing has been secured through the Centre from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and HUDCO.

For the Energy Department, he proposed a sum of Rs 13,600 crore.

According to Keshav, AP's energy sector is undergoing a transformative revival, with the state aiming to emerge as a green hydrogen hub.

Other major allocations included Rs 8,785 crore for the Department of Transport, Roads and Buildings, Rs 18,019 crore for Water Resources Department and Rs 8,570 crore for the Home department.

Earmarking Rs 6,318 crore funds for the Housing department, Keshav proposed to complete more than seven lakh houses under ongoing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme by March 2026.

He noted that two lakh houses will be handed over by Andhra Pradesh Township Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (APTIDCO) by June 2025.

For house construction, our government has decided to provide additional financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to SCs and Rs 75,000 to STs, he said.

Our government will establish the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub in Amaravati to foster innovation, create entrepreneurial ecosystems, and mentor startups in the region, said the Finance Minister.

It will be linked with five other zonal centres, each supported by a prominent business group, and will facilitate technology and skills enhancement in emerging sectors, he said.

In his speech, Keshav said the government was presenting the budget in the backdrop of the "financial destruction caused by the previous (YSRCP) regime".

"It has been a highly complex task, because the previous regime created financial chaos in every department," he alleged.

"Andhra Pradesh, under the leadership of Nara Chandrababu Naidu, is ushering in a new era of governance built on a healthy, wealthy, happy society. Our target of SwarnaAndhra@2047 (vision) is ambitious, but possible," the FM added.

Later, Agriculture Minister K Atchennaidu presented the Agriculture budget amounting to Rs 48,341 crore for FY26.

Meanwhile, former finance minister and YSRCP leader B Rajendranath Reddy alleged that the NDA government is living in negativity, observing that the previous YSRCP government was mentioned 25 times in the budget speech.

Questioning what schemes people received under Super Six, he mocked Deepam – 2 as half deepam or quarter deepam as ‘only one cylinder was delivered until now’.

“They deleted information on state debt (public debt), public account and also didn’t mention about guarantees,” he said, demanding information on over Rs 9.7 lakh crore debt attributed to the previous government.