Hyderabad, Feb 17 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy Friday presented a tax-free, revenue-surplus budget for 2012-13 with an overall expenditure of over Rs.1.45 lakh crore, an increase of 14 percent over the last budget.
He told the assembly during his budget speech that the overall expenditure during 2012-13 would be Rs.145,854 lakh crore, comprising Rs.91,824 crore under non-plan and Rs.54,030 crore under plan heads.
Presenting his second budget, Ramnarayan Reddy said the fiscal deficit was estimated to be Rs.20,008 crore while the revenue surplus would be Rs.4,444 crore.
The overall state debt is likely to go up to Rs.160,191 crore during 2012-13 against Rs.139,668 crore during 2011-12.
The minister has not announced any new scheme but declared the government would continue welfare schemes like "Arogyasri", free electricity to farmers and Rs.1 a kg rice to people below the poverty line.
Ramnarayan Reddy has increased the rice subsidy by 20 percent at Rs.3,000 crore. The allocation for power subsidy is Rs.5,500 crore, an increase of 28 percent.
The budget has provided Rs.1,075 crore for interest-free loans to farmers and women's self-help groups. Under the Rajiv Vidya Mission, 15 lakh jobs will be created by 2014.
The finance minister said the state's economy was witnessing a strong growth since 2004-2005. Between 2005-2006 and 2011-12, it grew by 9.26 percent against the country's overall growth of 8.64 percent, he said.
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for 2011-12 was lower at 6.81 percent against the national figure of 6.88 percent. This has been attributed to economic slowdown and agitation over separate Telangana state.
Earlier, uncertainty prevailed over presentation of budget in view of the schedule for by-elections to seven assembly seats announced by the Election Commission of India on Thursday night.
Opposition Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) demanded that the budget be postponed till March 18 by-elections. However, the commission clarified that there is no bar on presenting the budget, providing relief to the Congress government.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said an additional Rs.3,000 crore was provided for rice and electricity subsidy and scholarships.
He told reporters that the finance minister has made a good effort to balance between welfare and development. "This is the best budget I have seen in my political career," he said.
Opposition parties termed the budget as disappointing. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the budget did not live up to people's expectations. He said meager allocations were made for the priority sectors.
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