CM Targets 15% Economic Growth For AP

Naidu on Tuesday directed the planning department to formulate plans to achieve AP’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) targets despite the El Nino crisis. He stressed the need for an approach covering factors from the state level to the grassroots and called for greater use of technology across departments, similar to the commercial taxes department.

Earlier, the planning department officials presented the monthly economic report for July 2026 to Naidu at his camp office. The report said the state’s growth rate had remained higher than the national growth rate over the past two years, with real GSDP growth rising from 6.5 per cent in 2023-24 to 9.9 per cent in 2025-26.

The report recorded growth across the agriculture, industrial and services sectors. Industrial production increased by 8.2 per cent in July compared with June 2026, while spice production rose by 304 per cent during April-June, reaching 89,383 metric tonnes.

Vegetable production increased by 44.8 per cent, livestock and meat production by 9.6 per cent, egg production by 5.1 per cent and marine shrimp production by 17 per cent.

General exports increased by 10.5 per cent to `16,322 crore, while STPI exports grew by 32.2 per cent. Commercial vehicle purchases increased by 51.6 per cent. Technology integration helped GST collections rise by 21 per cent to `13,282 crore. Mineral production increased by 17.9 per cent and power consumption by 22.2 per cent.

The state received 3.10 crore domestic tourists and 35,951 foreign tourists in July, according to the report.

Investment inflows also remained encouraging, with mega projects worth `2.88 lakh crore grounded and registering 75.4 per cent progress. Investments of around `60,000 crore in the MSME sector recorded a 73.6 per cent increase. Tax and non-tax revenues also registered growth, the report said.

In the second quarter, the agriculture sector recorded 13.5 per cent growth while the industrial and services sectors grew by 10.6 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively. The growth supported the state’s economy and the implementation of welfare schemes while maintaining financial discipline, according to the report.

Referring to deficient rainfall under the influence of El Nino, inadequate inflows into the Krishna river, low water levels in the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects and declining groundwater levels, Naidu directed officials to coordinate and take measures to prevent these factors from adversely affecting the GSDP.

He called for comprehensive data analysis and corrective measures to address shortcomings. He also directed every department to manage its resources efficiently, achieve higher targets and ensure that measures to increase the state’s growth rate did not impose any additional price burden on the people.

The Chief Minister asked officials to prepare contingency plans focusing on water availability, value addition to products and other critical factors, while ensuring that products meant for international markets were not adversely affected.