YSRC Highlights Fast-Paced Growth' of AP in Four Years

VIJAYAWADA: The GSDP of Andhra Pradesh has grown by 50.8 per cent in the past over four years under the government led by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, claims the YSRC rank and file campaigning for the party’s return to power in the 2024 polls.

The Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRC government has also worked wonders in social welfare matters since 2019, the party leaders tell the masses during their social empowerment yatras.

These leaders are quoting RBI's Handbook of Statistics on Indian states to claim that AP has posted a 50 per cent growth in GSDP in these four years – a sharp rise from Rs 8.73 lakh crore in 2018–19 to Rs 13.17 lakh crore in 2022–23.

The YSRC leaders, who were previously highlighting the welfare and development of the SC, ST, BC and minority communities, are now focusing on the “all-round financial development” the state achieved under the rule of Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Participating in the YSRC Samajika Sadhikara Bus Yatras, these leaders are attempting to create a positive feel among the middle classes, the upper middle classes, government employees and sections that were barred from the welfare scheme benefits.

AP finance minister Buggana Rajendranath said AP’s  GSDP has grown by 50.8 per cent over the past four. “We achieved this even as the state faced the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in years 2020 and 2021.”

He claimed that the agriculture sector recorded a 64 per cent growth - from Rs 1.08 lakh crore in 2018-19 to RS 1.77 lakh crore the last fiscal. The per capita income of AP stood at Rs 2.19 lakh in 2022-23, against Rs 1.92 lakh in 2021-22, translating to a 14 per cent growth rate. It was 1.38 lakh in 2017-18 and 1.54 lakh in 2018-19, the minister said.

Industries minister G. Amarnath highlighted the industrial growth since 2019. “According to the RBI, the industrial growth rate in AP during Chandrababu Naidu's tenure was much less. The state was ranked at 22nd slot in the country then. By 2021-2022, AP rose to an impressive 3rd position nationwide,” he claimed.

As for the new MSMEs, he said that during Chandrababu Naidu's term (2014–2019), only 37,956 new Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) were established in the state. In the last four years, the number of new MSMEs has grown six-fold, to a total of 2.5 lakh. “This showed the extraordinary growth of AP in recent years,” he stressed.

 Social welfare minister Merugu Nagarjuna said AP registered the highest growth in the past four years.