Andhra Pradesh government once again requested the centre to release the promised grant of Rs 13, 799 crore to bridge the revenue gap resulted from the loss of revenues from Hyderabad after the city became part of Telangana following the bifurcation.
The demand was placed before the centre in the union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s interaction with the state governments as part of the preparation of 2016-17 budget in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Andhra Pradesh was represented by principal secretary Dr PV Ramesh (finance). The finance minister urged the centre to be generous in releasing funds to the successor state of Andhra Pradesh as it had to bank more on the centre to meet the challenges thrown up the division of the state.
The principal secretary said the state had requested for Rs 200 crore as special grant for each backward district of the state. In Andhra Pradesh four districts of Rayalaseema, and three districts of North Coastal Andhra have been identified as backward districts.
Similarly, the state requested for budgetary support for the construction of new capital Amaravati and incentives for the industries coming up in capital regions. The state has requested Rs 4000 crore budgetary support for capital city construction in 2016-17 budget. As for the incentives, the state sough : a) 100% excise duty exemption for a period of 10 years from the date of commencement of commercial production; b) 100% income tax exemption for the initial period of five years and thereafter 30% for companies and 25% for other than companies for a further period of five years from the date of commencement of commercial production; and c) Capital investment subsidy @ 15% of their investment in plant & machinery, subject to a ceiling of one crore Rupees.
The industrial concessions the centre offered so far were limited. Andhra Pradesh wanted the concessions on the lines of those extended to Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh.
The state also made a strong plea for according special category state status to Andhra Pradesh as early as possible.
