Andhra Pradesh: Ex-CM Jagan Reddy cites CAG data, says state’s fiscal health shows signs of ‘distress’ under NDA rule

 YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday cited the CAG’s data for the month of April and claimed Andhra Pradesh’s fiscal performance indicates ‘distress’.

The former chief minister noted that the figures released by CAG for the month of the April 2025 convey the ‘real picture’. “The State GST revenues for the first month of this financial year (April 2025) demonstrated contraction to the tune of 24.20 percent, when compared to the April 2024,” he said in a post on ‘X’.

Though the TDP-led NDA government on May 1 proclaimed that net GST collection of the state government for the month of April 2025 had been the ‘highest’ since the introduction of GST at Rs 3,354 crore, Reddy said technically net GST will be subsequent to all adjustments.

As soon as the CAG figures have become public, the government ‘mischievously’ issues one more press release suggesting that even in May month the GST revenues were at record high, he alleged.

“In this press release they mention that, in April, 2025, the Central Government deducted Rs 796 crores on account of adjustment of advance apportionment from IGST (integrated GST), so GST revenues have come down,” said Reddy.

According to the opposition leader, advance apportionment of IGST is accounted for under minor head 110 and is part of SGST (state GST) under major head 0006 of government accounts.

He said this is a regular process and net GST revenues would be arrived at after accounting for all these adjustments, and added that it was the case in the previous years as well.

“The May 1 press release says that net GST collection is Rs 3,354 crore for April 2025. Now, they (govt) say that Rs 796 crore is adjusted. One can clearly understand that this is nothing but a cover up after truth about the GST revenue is brought to light by the CAG,” said Reddy.

Further, the opposition leader observed that quite contrary to what the NDA alliance government had suggested, the figures released by CAG indicate that the ‘trend of economic sluggishness’ is more pronounced in April with the tax revenues dropping by 12.21 percent and non-tax revenues registering a fall of 22 percent when compared to April 2024.

If the state’s own revenues are taken into consideration, Reddy said, the fall over the previous year is 12.76 percent, indicating a ‘very gloomy picture’.

Meanwhile, there was no immediate reaction from the ruling TDP.