Andhra Pradesh to mobilise Rs 1,500 crore through securities

HYDERABAD: Barely ten days into the new financial year, the Andhra Pradesh government is set to sell securities to mobilise Rs 1,500 crore at a time when its financial health has become a subject of debate.

While Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy maintained that the state's financial health was fine, former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu of Telugu Desam Party demanded that government publish a white paper on the issue.

Principal Secretary (Finance) V Bhaskar announced today that the government would sell 10-year dated security in the form of stock to public, by auction, for an aggregate amount of Rs 1,500 crore. The auction would be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India at its Mumbai office on April 10.

There were reports that the state's financial position was "too precarious" and the treasury was turning empty.

"The state treasury is not empty. We have a comfortable liquidity position," Principal Secretary (Institutional Finance) Pushpa Subrahmanyam said, reacting to the reports.

However, Yanamala ridiculed the government's claims, alleging that the Finance Minister was "misleading the people by concealing facts".

"In 2010-11 fiscal, the state drew money from the Ways and Means Account (WMA) and paid Rs 218 crore as interest. In the revised estimates of 2011-12 Budget, it earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for WMA repayment," the former Finance Minister said.

The state's debt burden increased to Rs 1.66 lakh crore in the last eight years of Congress rule, with Andhra Pradesh topping the list of debt-ridden states, Yanamala added.

The government should wake up from its deep slumber and take effective steps to set the state's financial position right, the TDP leader said.