Hyderabad: Hike in allocations for welfare and other social services sectors and marginal increase in economic services were the highlights of 2013-14 budget of Andhra Pradesh.
Presenting its last budget before next year’s elections, the Congress government hiked the allocations for the welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and minorities in an attempt to woo these sections of the society.
Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy presented a tax-free, revenue-surplus budget with an overall expenditure of over Rs.1.61 lakh crore (nearly $30 billion), an increase of 10 percent over 2012-13 budget.
He told the assembly during his budget speech that the overall expenditure during 2013-14 would be Rs.1,61,348 crore, comprising Rs.1,01,926 crore under non-plan and Rs.59,422 crore under plan heads.
The finance minister described the budget as momentous as it is the first budget after the state enacted a historic legislation in December last year to give statutory status to the scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) sub-plans. (IANS)