AP CM Naidu Says He’s Bringing AP Economy Back on Track

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asserted that the alliance government is bringing the state’s economy back on track after “it was ruined” during the YSRC term.

Addressing the media at the secretariat on Monday to explain AP’s GSDP estimates for the second quarter and first half of the current fiscal, the CM said, “We are monitoring the state’s GSDP on a regular basis.” Naidu maintained that his government was implementing the poll promises one by one despite financial constraints.

“We are helping the state have rapid development in all sectors,” he claimed.

Naidu said the YSRC government raised loans by mortgaging the state’s assets and even the future revenue. Its failure to spend on capital expenditure, or infra development, resulted in the failure of several projects to move forward.

“We ensured fresh progress in such projects and this has enhanced the capital expenditure on projects having short, medium and long tenures for completion. Our government is committed to promote welfare, development and good governance. Accordingly, we introduced WhatsApp governance to help people avail a series of services online,” he said.

Naidu said, “We have revisited the 93 defunct central schemes and are streamlining all the systems to go ahead. We aren’t going to enhance power charges unlike the previous government, which purchased power at `15 per unit during peak load time from the open market and scrapped the Power Purchase Agreements, forcing them to pay `9,000 crore."

“By taking up a series of initiatives, we are able to restore the AP’s brand image which, in turn, resulted in getting nearly `13 lakh crore worth investments in the recently held CII partnership summit in Visakhapatnam.”

He stressed that his government gave approval for investments worth eight lakh crore through the state investment promotion board.

Naidu slammed the YSRC government for “derailing” the education system and said that his government brought it back on rails through reforms.

Referring to the 85 lakh metric tonne of legacy waste, he vowed efforts to make AP free from such waste by Jan. 1.

The CM gave a powerpoint presentation on Andhra Pradesh GSDP Estimates.

Accordingly, the GSDP was registered at `15.93 lakh crore with growth rate at 12.02 per cent in 2024-25. AP’s share in national GDP was pegged at 4.82 per cent.

As for per capita income, AP registered it at `2.66 lakh with the growth rate put at 11.89 per cent for 2024-25 against Telangana’s `3.87 lakh with a growth rate of 11.48 per cent.

AP registered an average GSDP growth rate of 13.5 per cent from 2014-15 to 2018-19. It reduced to 10.32 per cent on average from 2019-20 to 2023-24. The state lost `7 lakh crore GSDP due to reduced growth. “Had the growth rate continued at 13.5 per cent, AP would have got an additional revenue of `76,195 crore, it was noted.

Naidu explained broad sector-wise Gross Value Added (GVA) and GSDP estimates for Quarter-2 from July-September,2026 at current prices. Accordingly, industry, agriculture and services put together, GVA was pegged at `3,72,108 crore with growth rate at 11.30 per cent, while GSDP was registered at `4,00,377 crore with growth rate at 11.28 per cent.

The Chief Minister said that as per Swarna Andhra Vision 2047, the GSDP target for 2025-26 was `18.66 lakh crore with a growth rate of 17.11 per cent. The performance for the first half of the current fiscal showed the economy achieving around 41 per cent of the GSDP target.

To meet the required performance in the second half of the current fiscal, a focused and sector-specific strategy has to be adopted.

Turning to politics, Naidu slammed the YSRC leadership for taking the Parakamani theft in a lighter vein by claiming that it was a small matter. He wondered how a serious issue of theft in TTD could be taken lightly, and said, “We have suspended a temple executive officer recently on charges of theft and vowed to dismiss the EO from service.

On the huge aviation sector crisis, wherein hundreds of IndiGo flights were cancelled following sudden implementation of the flight duty time limitations and other norms for enhanced safety, Naidu said the central government would tackle the issue.