Former Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has hit out at the TDP-led coalition government, alleging that Andhra Pradesh’s fiscal indicators show low revenue growth, low capital expenditure and rising debt.
In a post on X on Sunday, November 16, Jagan cited newly released CAG data to argue that the government’s claims of strong fiscal recovery are misleading. He wrote that the figures released by the CAG for the first half of FY 2025-26 reveal very discouraging growth of state government revenues, which he said is contrary to the tall claims made by the TDP and JSP.
According to him, the state’s own tax revenue grew by just 7.03 percent year on year during the first half of 2025-26, which he said is far below expectations of a post-pandemic recovery. Consumption-linked revenues were even weaker, with GST and Sales Tax collections rising by only 2.85 percent compared to the same period last year.
Jagan said that looking at a longer window paints an even grimmer picture. Over the two-year period from 2023-24 to 2025-26, the state’s tax revenues grew at a compound annual growth rate of only 2.75 percent. He alleged that despite this, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is attempting to hoodwink the public into believing that the state is achieving strong economic growth.
He pointed out that the TDP alliance has claimed a GSDP growth of 12.02 percent for 2024-25 and is targeting 17.1 percent for 2025-26. These numbers imply a two-year compound annual growth rate of 14.53 percent. Such growth, he argued, should translate into a tax revenue growth rate of 12 to 15 percent rather than the 2.75 percent reflected in the CAG data.
Jagan said the picture is worse on the capital expenditure front, which he claimed has shrunk at a compound annual growth rate of minus 16 percent over the same period. He said that in the first quarter of 2025-26, the state’s own revenues grew by only 3.47 percent year on year, while combined GST and Sales Tax collections were actually lower than the previous year. He added that despite this, Naidu claims that the state’s GSDP grew by 10.50 percent in the first quarter, which he described as illogical.
Comparing this with the YSRCP’s tenure from 2019 to 2024, Jagan said Andhra Pradesh’s own tax revenues rose from 58,031 crore rupees to 92,922 crore rupees at a compound annual growth rate of 9.87 percent, while GSDP grew at 10.23 percent. He said this showed a parallel growth pattern that is missing under the current regime.
Jagan added that the only aspect in which the state seems to be moving quickly is in terms of debt, alleging that the TDP-led government has already contracted borrowings worth 2,06,959 crore rupees, which he said is 62 percent of what the YSRCP government borrowed over five years.