Andhra Pradesh State Guide: History, Government, Elections, Exams

Overview

Andhra Pradesh is a state on the south-eastern coast of India, facing the Bay of Bengal. Its capital in law is Amaravati, and its largest city is Visakhapatnam. It has a recorded coastline of about 974 km, the second longest among Indian states, and an area of about 1.63 lakh sq km (162,975 sq km on Wikipedia; the India State of Forest Report uses 162,922.57 sq km), which makes it the seventh largest state. Telangana lies to the north and west, Chhattisgarh and Odisha to the north, Tamil Nadu to the south and Karnataka to the south-west. As on October 2026 the state has 28 districts.

The state has been reshaped three times in living memory. On 1 October 1953 Andhra State was carved out of Madras State, the first Indian state created on a linguistic basis. On 1 November 1956 it merged with the Telugu-speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad State to form Andhra Pradesh. On 2 June 2014 Telangana was separated again under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, leaving the present "residuary" state with 13 districts and a new capital to build.

Telugu is the official language, and Urdu is listed as an additional official language. Census 2011, the latest published census, counted 49,577,103 people in the territory of today's state (an adjusted figure; see Demography). The state mixes fertile river deltas, dry Rayalaseema uplands and the forested Eastern Ghats, and has three informal regions: Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and North Andhra (Uttarandhra).

On the capital, the position changed in April 2026. Under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2026, Section 5 of the 2014 Act now says Amaravati is the new capital, with effect from 2 June 2024, the day Hyderabad's ten-year joint-capital period ended. The History section gives the background. For neighbours see Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

For exam preparation

• Andhra State was formed on 1 October 1953 (capital Kurnool); Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1 November 1956; Telangana separated on 2 June 2014.
• The coastline is about 974 km (second longest); the Godavari, Krishna and Pennar are the main rivers; Arma Konda (1,680 m) is the highest point.
• As on October 2026 there are 28 districts, after Polavaram and Markapuram were formed with effect from 31 December 2025.
• Amaravati is named capital by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2026, effective retrospectively from 2 June 2024.
• Census 2011 population of the residuary state: 49,577,103 (adjusted figure).

History

The Telugu country has been a distinct historical region for more than two thousand years. Early Buddhist centres, the Satavahana empire, the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, the Kakatiyas and the Vijayanagara empire all shaped it. After 1765 the coast came under the British and the Rayalaseema districts followed in 1800, while Telangana stayed under the Nizam of Hyderabad. The history of the modern state is the story of how these two Telugu-speaking halves were joined in 1956 and separated again in 2014.

Early Andhra and the Satavahanas

The word Andhra appears in early Sanskrit and Buddhist texts as the name of a people and region on the Krishna and Godavari. Buddhist remains at Amaravati, Salihundam, Bavikonda and Thotlakonda show that the coast was an early centre of the faith, and the Mauryan empire reached the region in the 3rd century BCE.

The Satavahana dynasty, dated to about 230 BCE to 220 CE, ruled much of the Deccan and is the first great Andhra empire. It reached its peak under Gautamiputra Satakarni. Its early centre was at Dharanikota near Amaravati, and the Great Stupa at Amaravati is its best known monument. The Andhra Ikshvakus, in the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE, ruled from Vijayapuri, now beneath the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir at Nagarjunakonda. Their monuments were moved to higher ground when the dam was built.

Chalukyas, Cholas and the Kakatiyas

The Eastern Chalukyas, dated 624 to 1206 CE, governed the delta country from Vengi, between the Krishna and Godavari, after Pulakeshin II installed a brother there. Chola influence over Vengi grew from 1002 CE, and Rajamahendravaram (Rajahmundry) became a later capital. Under King Rajaraja Narendra the poet Nannaya began a Telugu Mahabharata in the 11th century, and he is traditionally called the first poet (Adi Kavi) of Telugu.

The Kakatiyas, dated 1206 to 1323 CE, ruled from Orugallu (Warangal, now in Telangana) and brought most of the Telugu country under a single rule for the first time. Ganapati Deva and Rudrama Devi are the best known rulers. The kingdom fell to a Delhi Sultanate army in 1323. Reddy chiefs then ruled coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema from about 1326 to 1448, with capitals at Addanki, Kondavidu and Rajahmundry.

Vijayanagara, Gajapatis and the Qutb Shahis

The Vijayanagara empire (1336 to 1646 CE) was founded by Harihara and Bukka on the Tungabhadra. Its greatest ruler, Krishnadevaraya (reigned 1509 to 1529), is remembered in Andhra as a patron of Telugu literature and as the author of the Telugu poem Amuktamalyada. His court is traditionally said to have had eight poets, the Ashtadiggajas. The empire declined after the Battle of Talikota in 1565, and its later rulers moved to Penukonda and then Chandragiri.

The Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda (1518 to 1687) took much of the coast, until the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb annexed Golconda in 1687. Mughal governors later became hereditary rulers as the Nizams of Hyderabad, who held Telangana.

The colonial period

The English East India Company founded an early factory at Masulipatam (Machilipatnam) in 1611. In 1765 the Northern Circars, the coastal districts from Srikakulam to Guntur, passed to the Company by an imperial grant from the Mughal emperor. In 1800 the Nizam ceded to the Company the districts of Bellary, Cuddapah (Kadapa), Anantapur and Kurnool, which are still known as the Ceded Districts, and Rayalaseema takes its name from this period. The Telugu areas were then governed as parts of the Madras Presidency. The districts of Rajahmundry, Masulipatam and Guntur were created in 1823, and in 1859 two of them were reorganised into Godavari and Krishna districts. Telangana remained under the Nizam until 1948. Colonial engineers built large delta irrigation works, including the anicut (barrage) at Dowleswaram associated with Arthur Cotton.

The freedom movement and the Andhra movement

Telugu leaders took part in all the main phases of the national movement. Alluri Sitarama Raju led the Rampa rebellion of tribal people in the Godavari hills in 1922 to 1924; he was killed in 1924. Pingali Venkayya, from Machilipatnam, designed the flag used by the Congress and presented it at the Vijayawada session in 1921. Tanguturi Prakasam, known as Andhra Kesari, was a prominent leader of the 1930 Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India period.

Alongside this, a movement for a separate Andhra province grew from the early 20th century on the basis of language. Andhra University was set up in 1926, and leaders of the coast and Rayalaseema agreed the Sri Bagh Pact in 1937 on sharing institutions and jobs. Reformers such as Kandukuri Veeresalingam pushed for social change.

Andhra State, 1953

After independence the demand for a state hardened. Potti Sriramulu began a fast unto death on 19 October 1952 and died on 15 December 1952. Riots followed, and on 19 December 1952 the Prime Minister announced that a separate Andhra State would be created. Parliament passed the Andhra State Act in September 1953, and the state came into being on 1 October 1953 with Kurnool as its capital and Tanguturi Prakasam as first Chief Minister. It had 11 districts (Anantapur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Guntur, Kadapa, Krishna, Kurnool, Nellore, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and West Godavari). It was the first state formed on a linguistic basis, and it led to the States Reorganisation Commission (appointed 1953, report 1955) and the reorganisation of 1956.

United Andhra Pradesh, 1956

On 1 November 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Andhra State and the Telugu-speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad State were merged into Andhra Pradesh, with Hyderabad as the capital. A "gentlemen's agreement" of February 1956 promised safeguards for Telangana in jobs, education and revenue. Prakasam district was formed in 1970 and Vizianagaram in 1979. In 1959 some areas on the far bank of the Godavari, including Bhadrachalam, moved from East Godavari to Khammam district for geographical reasons.

Telangana felt that the safeguards were not kept. There was an agitation in 1969, a counter-agitation (Jai Andhra) in 1972, and a settlement through the Six-Point Formula in 1973. The demand revived in 2001, and on 9 December 2009 the Union Government announced it would begin the process of forming Telangana, which was suspended on 23 December 2009 after protests in the coast and Rayalaseema. The Srikrishna Committee, appointed in February 2010, reported in January 2011 recommending constitutional safeguards within a united state.

Bifurcation, 2014

On 30 July 2013 the Congress Working Committee backed a separate Telangana. The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly rejected the bill on 30 January 2014, but Parliament passed it on 18 February 2014 (Lok Sabha) and 20 February 2014 (Rajya Sabha). The President gave assent on 1 March 2014, and the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 took effect on the appointed day, 2 June 2014.

Point	Provision of the 2014 Act
Territory	Ten Telangana districts separated; the residuary state kept 13 districts
Assembly seats	Andhra Pradesh 175, Telangana 119
Lok Sabha seats	Andhra Pradesh 25, Telangana 17
Rajya Sabha seats	Andhra Pradesh 11, Telangana 7
Capital	Hyderabad to be a common capital for not more than ten years; Andhra Pradesh to get a new capital
Polavaram	The project was declared a national project, and seven mandals of Khammam district were added to Andhra Pradesh in 2014 for its submergence area

Hyderabad's common-capital period ended on 2 June 2024. Special category status, promised in the bifurcation debate, remains a matter of political debate.

The Amaravati capital

The state government of the day announced the Amaravati location on 1 September 2014. The name comes from the Satavahana-era site, and the city, on the Krishna near Vijayawada, covers about 217 sq km (Wikipedia). The foundation stone was laid on 22 October 2015, and the legislature and secretariat have worked from Velagapudi since 2017. The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) manages the capital region.

Between 2019 and 2024 the state government instead moved to a three-capital model, with Visakhapatnam as executive, Amaravati as legislative and Kurnool as judicial capital. That law was later repealed. After the 2024 election the new government went back to a single Amaravati capital. In April 2026 Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2026, which was gazetted on 6 April 2026 and is deemed to be in force from 2 June 2024. It substitutes the wording of Section 5(2) so that "Amaravati shall be the new capital", and an Explanation says Amaravati includes the capital city areas notified under the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Act, 2014. Reports describe it as the first time in independent India that Parliament has named a state's capital in a statute.

For exam preparation

• The Satavahanas (about 230 BCE to 220 CE) built the Amaravati Stupa; the Ikshvakus ruled from Nagarjunakonda.
• The Eastern Chalukyas ruled from Vengi; the Kakatiyas ruled from Warangal until 1323; Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara reigned from 1509 to 1529.
• The Northern Circars passed to the East India Company in 1765; the Ceded Districts came in 1800.
• Potti Sriramulu fasted from 19 October 1952 and died on 15 December 1952; Andhra State began on 1 October 1953 with Kurnool as capital.
• Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 by merging Andhra State with Telangana.
• Telangana was separated by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (assent 1 March 2014; appointed day 2 June 2014).
• The Amaravati foundation stone was laid on 22 October 2015; the 2026 Amendment Act names Amaravati the capital with effect from 2 June 2024.

Geography

Andhra Pradesh lies between roughly 12°41' and 19°07' north latitude and 77° and 84°40' east longitude. Its long, narrow coastal plain runs between the Bay of Bengal and the Eastern Ghats, widening in the Krishna and Godavari deltas, while the western and southern districts rise onto the dry eastern Deccan plateau. The coastline is about 974 km, the second longest of any state (one Wikipedia page quotes 1,053 km; use 974 km). The Godavari, Krishna and Pennar are its main rivers.

Location and boundaries

The state shares borders with Telangana to the north and west, Chhattisgarh to the north-west, Odisha to the north, Karnataka to the south-west and west, and Tamil Nadu to the south. A small enclave of Puducherry, Yanam, lies inside the Godavari delta in the north-east. Three regions are used in everyday speech: North Andhra (Uttarandhra), Coastal Andhra (the delta and central coast) and Rayalaseema (the south-west interior, with the old Ceded Districts).

Physiography

The land has three belts. The coastal plain, built by the Godavari, Krishna and smaller rivers, has broad deltas, lagoons and sandy ridges. The Eastern Ghats run through the state as a discontinuous chain of hills with an average height of about 600 m; the whole range is about 1,750 km long across five states, with about 40 per cent in Andhra Pradesh (Wikipedia). The interior plateau of Rayalaseema, on ancient rocks, is semi-arid.

Several named ranges belong to the Eastern Ghats in the state: the Nallamala and Palakonda hills, the Seshachalam hills around Tirupati (which include the Tirumala hills), and the Anantagiri hills near Araku in the north. Arma Konda, in Alluri Sitharama Raju district, is the highest point in the state and in the whole Eastern Ghats range at 1,680 m.

Rivers

The rivers are the key to the state's farming, and the delta barrages and canals are central to its history. Most rivers rise outside the state and flow east to the Bay of Bengal.

River	Key facts
Godavari	About 1,465 km long; rises near Nashik in Maharashtra; basin about 312,812 sq km, third largest in India. At Rajamahendravaram it splits into the Gautami and Vasishta branches, and further branches reach the sea. Dowleswaram barrage near Rajamahendravaram; the Polavaram project is on the river. Tributaries include the Pranhita, Indravati, Manjira and Sabari
Krishna	About 1,400 km; rises near Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra; basin about 259,000 sq km. Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams are on its course, and Prakasam Barrage is at Vijayawada. Its delta lies in Krishna and Bapatla districts. Tributaries include the Bhima and the Tungabhadra
Tungabhadra	Major tributary of the Krishna; it joins it in the Kurnool region. The dam on it lies in Karnataka
Pennar (Penna)	About 597 km; rises in the Nandi Hills in Karnataka; basin about 55,213 sq km. Tributaries include the Chitravathi, Papagni, Cheyyeru and Jayamangali. It reaches the sea near Nellore
Vamsadhara and Nagavali	Two rivers of the north, flowing through Srikakulam and Vizianagaram region to the sea; both rise in Odisha

Other east-flowing rivers include the Gundlakamma, Swarnamukhi and Sarada. The state also has two important wetlands. Kolleru Lake lies between the Krishna and Godavari deltas, and is a Ramsar site and bird sanctuary. Pulicat Lake, shared with Tamil Nadu, is described as the second largest brackish-water lagoon in India. Rivers in the Godavari delta flood often in the monsoon, and a September 2024 flood at Vijayawada saw Prakasam Barrage discharge a record flow of about 33,000 cubic metres a second (Wikipedia).

Coast, deltas and ports

The 974 km coast is mostly low and sandy, with river mouths, lagoons and mangroves. The Godavari and Krishna deltas are among the most intensively farmed tracts in India, and are crossed by canal systems that date back to the 19th century. Pulicat Lake is separated from the sea by the barrier island of Sriharikota, where the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of ISRO stands. Visakhapatnam is the state's major port, and Kakinada and Krishnapatnam are other large ports; Machilipatnam is an older port town. The low coast is exposed to cyclones and storm surges, and the delta districts are prone to flooding in the monsoon. In contrast, Rayalaseema depends on tanks, borewells and canals fed from the Krishna and Pennar, and has repeated dry spells.

Climate

The climate is tropical. Coastal districts are hot and humid, while parts of Anantapur, Sri Sathya Sai, Kurnool and Kadapa lie in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats and are semi-arid. Summer runs from March to June, with temperatures often above 40 degrees C in the central plateau. The south-west monsoon runs from June to September, and about a third of the annual rainfall comes from the north-east monsoon around October to December, when cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal. The state's average annual rainfall is reported as about 966 mm. The lowest is in Anantapur at about 311 mm a year, and the highest in Alluri Sitharama Raju district at about 738 mm. Cyclone Hudhud hit Visakhapatnam in October 2014.

Soils

Red soils cover much of Rayalaseema and the north-eastern uplands and are suited to millets, groundnut and pulses. Black cotton soils, which hold water, are found in Kurnool, Nandyal, Guntur, Palnadu and Prakasam and are used for cotton, chilli and tobacco. Alluvial soils fill the Godavari and Krishna deltas and are the main rice and sugarcane soils. Coastal sandy soils support coconut and cashew, and laterite soils occur in parts of the north-east.

Forests

Forests are concentrated in the Eastern Ghats and the Nallamala and Seshachalam hills. As reported from the India State of Forest Report 2023, the state's recorded forest area is about 37,258 sq km, and its forest cover about 30,084.96 sq km, nearly 18 per cent of the geographical area; the forest cover and recorded-area figures differ because some recorded forest has little tree cover, and secondary sources give different totals. The main types are tropical dry deciduous forest and delta mangroves, such as Coringa near Kakinada. Red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus), a protected high-value timber, grows naturally in the southern Eastern Ghats of Rayalaseema.

Minerals

Minerals include limestone, bauxite, baryte (a major share of India's reserves, reported), uranium at Tummalapalli in Kadapa district, and oil and natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Production figures belong to a later section.

Wildlife and protected areas

The state has three national parks, 13 wildlife sanctuaries and one biosphere reserve (Seshachalam Hills), according to a summary on Wikipedia; counts differ between sources. Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, shared with Telangana, is reported as the largest tiger reserve in India; the quoted area ranges from about 3,568 to 3,728 sq km depending on source.

Protected area	Type, location and note
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam	Tiger reserve in the Nallamala hills, spanning Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; Krishna cuts through it
Sri Venkateswara	National park in the Seshachalam and Tirumala hills, part of the Seshachalam biosphere reserve; slender loris, leopard, sloth bear
Papikonda	National park and sanctuary on the Godavari gorge, about 591 sq km; tiger, leopard, gaur
Rajiv Gandhi	The third national park listed by the sources; Rollapadu is a separate sanctuary for the great Indian bustard
Coringa	Mangrove sanctuary near Kakinada, 235.70 sq km; estuarine crocodile, smooth-coated otter
Kolleru (Atapaka)	Bird sanctuary and Ramsar wetland, about 308.55 sq km
Pulicat Lake	Bird sanctuary, about 500 sq km (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu); flamingos
Gundla Brahmeswaram	Sanctuary in Nallamala, about 1,194 sq km
Sri Penusila Narasimha	Sanctuary, about 1,030.85 sq km
Koundinya	About 357.60 sq km; elephant habitat
Others	Krishna, Sri Lankamalleswara, Kambalakonda (Visakhapatnam)

For exam preparation

• Coastline is about 974 km, the second longest in India; Yanam (Puducherry) is an enclave in the Godavari delta.
• Arma Konda (1,680 m) is the highest peak of the Eastern Ghats and of the state.
• The Godavari is about 1,465 km long; the Krishna about 1,400 km; the Pennar about 597 km.
• Prakasam Barrage is at Vijayawada, and Dowleswaram barrage is at Rajamahendravaram.
• Kolleru and Pulicat are the two big wetlands, and Coringa is the mangrove sanctuary.
• Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam is India's largest tiger reserve; Seshachalam is the state's biosphere reserve.

Administration and districts

Andhra Pradesh is divided into districts, revenue divisions, mandals and villages. Each district is headed by a district collector, each revenue division by a revenue divisional officer, and each mandal (equivalent to a tehsil or taluk) by a mandal revenue officer. As on October 2026 the state has 28 districts, 81 revenue divisions and 688 mandals, according to the Wikipedia compilation based on the December 2025 reorganisation; another report puts the number of revenue divisions at 82, so treat that count as approximate. The three regions (Coastal Andhra, North Andhra and Rayalaseema) are informal, and the government has also proposed three regional development clusters.

How the district map changed

Andhra State began with 11 districts. After the 2014 split the residuary state had 13 districts: Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa, Anantapur and Kurnool. A draft notification for 13 new districts was published on 26 January 2022, and the new districts came into being in April 2022, which doubled the number to 26. They were Alluri Sitharama Raju, Anakapalli, Annamayya, Bapatla, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema, Eluru, Kakinada, Nandyal, NTR, Palnadu, Parvathipuram Manyam, Sri Sathya Sai and Tirupati.

On 31 December 2025 two more districts, Polavaram and Markapuram, were formed with effect from that date (the cabinet approved them on 29 December 2025 and reports say the new arrangements took effect on 1 January 2026), which raised the count from 26 to 28. Polavaram, with its headquarters at Rampachodavaram, was carved out of Alluri Sitharama Raju district and is mostly tribal. Markapuram was carved out of Prakasam. A third proposed district, Madanapalle, was discussed in November 2025, but the final decision kept Annamayya district and moved its headquarters from Rayachoti to Madanapalle. Rajampet moved to YSR Kadapa district and Railway Koduru to Tirupati district, five new revenue divisions were reported, and Adoni mandal in Kurnool district was divided into two. No later reorganisation was found in the sources opened.

The 28 districts

Regions follow Wikipedia's grouping (North Andhra 7, Coastal Andhra 12, Rayalaseema 9, which puts Nellore in Rayalaseema). District population and area figures are left out because published tables do not add up to the Census total after repeated reorganisation. Revenue divisions and mandals are as reported for the post-December 2025 map.

District	HQ	Region	Rev. divisions	Mandals	Note
Alluri Sitharama Raju	Paderu	North	1	11	2022; tribal hill district; contains Arma Konda
Anakapalli	Anakapalli	North	3	24	2022
Anantapuramu	Anantapuram	Rayalaseema	3	32	Driest district
Annamayya	Madanapalle	Rayalaseema	3	25	2022; HQ moved from Rayachoti in 2025
Bapatla	Bapatla	Coastal	3	20	2022
Chittoor	Chittoor	Rayalaseema	3	28	Retained after 2022
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema	Amalapuram	Coastal	3	19	2022; Godavari delta
East Godavari	Rajamahendravaram	Coastal	2	22	Retained after 2022
Eluru	Eluru	Coastal	3	28	2022; Kolleru lake area
Guntur	Guntur	Coastal	2	18	Amaravati area partly lies here
Kakinada	Kakinada	Coastal	2	21	2022; Coringa
Krishna	Machilipatnam	Coastal	3	26	Retained after 2022
Kurnool	Kurnool	Rayalaseema	3	27	Capital of Andhra State, 1953 to 1956
Markapuram	Markapuram	Coastal	2	21	31 December 2025, from Prakasam
Nandyal	Nandyal	Rayalaseema	4	30	2022
Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore	Nellore	Rayalaseema	3	36	Named for the 1952 fast leader
NTR	Vijayawada	Coastal	3	20	2022
Palnadu	Narasaraopeta	Coastal	3	28	2022
Parvathipuram Manyam	Parvathipuram	North	2	15	2022
Polavaram	Rampachodavaram	North	2	12	31 December 2025; Scheduled Tribes about 68.8 per cent (reported)
Prakasam	Ongole	Coastal	3	28	Created 1970; reduced in 2025
Srikakulam	Srikakulam	North	3	30	Oldest of the north-coast districts
Sri Sathya Sai	Puttaparthi	Rayalaseema	5	32	2022
Tirupati	Tirupati	Rayalaseema	4	36	2022; Tirumala
Visakhapatnam	Visakhapatnam	North	2	11	Smallest district by area; largest city
Vizianagaram	Vizianagaram	North	3	28	Created 1979
West Godavari	Bhimavaram	Coastal	3	20	Retained after 2022
YSR Kadapa	Kadapa	Rayalaseema	5	40	Largest district by area

Wikipedia names YSR Kadapa as the largest district by area, Visakhapatnam as the smallest, and Nellore as the most populous; these depend on the latest map.

Urban local bodies

According to the state's Directorate of Town and Country Planning (as reproduced on Wikipedia, not independently checked against the latest orders), the state has 123 urban local bodies: 17 municipal corporations, 90 municipalities and 16 nagar panchayats. The oldest corporations are Visakhapatnam (1979) and Vijayawada (1981). Urban bodies follow the 74th Constitutional Amendment (Part IXA, Articles 243P to 243ZG). No separate Amaravati municipal corporation appears in the list we opened.

Panchayati Raj

Rural local government follows the 73rd Constitutional Amendment (Part IX, Articles 243 to 243O) and the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, with three tiers: gram panchayat at village level, mandal parishad at block level and zilla parishad at district level. Reports put the number of village panchayats at 13,324 (Ministry of Panchayati Raj bulletin as cited on Wikipedia). The State Election Commission conducts local body elections, covered later in this guide.

Fifth Schedule areas

Parts of the state are Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution (Article 244(1)). The northern Eastern Ghats hill belt, including Alluri Sitharama Raju, Parvathipuram Manyam and Polavaram districts, is the main tribal area (reported), and the Governor has special powers there. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) gives gram sabhas extra powers. Integrated Tribal Development Agencies, such as those at Paderu and Rampachodavaram, run tribal programmes. The exact list of Scheduled Area mandals was not confirmed and is not given. Sixth Schedule areas apply only to parts of the north-east.

For exam preparation

• As on October 2026, Andhra Pradesh has 28 districts, formed in two steps: 13 to 26 in April 2022, and 26 to 28 on 31 December 2025.
• The 2025 additions are Polavaram (HQ Rampachodavaram) and Markapuram; Annamayya's HQ moved to Madanapalle.
• The residuary state of 2014 had 13 districts.
• Local government has three tiers (gram panchayat, mandal parishad, zilla parishad) under the AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.
• The mandal is the revenue and development unit (equivalent to a tehsil); the state reported 688 mandals after the 2025 changes.
• Fifth Schedule (Article 244(1)) governs Scheduled Areas; PESA was enacted in 1996.

Demography

Census 2011 is still the latest published census, and all figures below are from it unless labelled otherwise. The population of today's Andhra Pradesh was 49,577,103, including the seven mandals of Khammam district transferred from Telangana in 2014. The 13 districts of the residuary state alone had 49,386,799 in the original Census count, and the difference of 190,304 comes from those mandals. This is our own arithmetic: the united state had 84,580,777 people, and Telangana's figure of 35,003,674 after the transfer leaves 49,577,103. Check the exam question for which figure is used.

Indicator (Census 2011)	Value
Population	49,577,103 (males 24,830,513; females 24,746,590)
Density	304 persons per sq km (our calculation on 162,975 sq km; Wikipedia gives the same)
Sex ratio	About 997 females per 1,000 males on the adjusted figures (our calculation); 993 in the original 13-district Census count
Literacy	67.35 per cent as listed on Wikipedia; some compilations give 67.4
Rural / urban	34,947,494 rural (70.5 per cent); 14,610,410 urban (29.5 per cent)
Scheduled Castes	8,469,278 (about 17.1 per cent, our calculation)
Scheduled Tribes	2,740,133 (about 5.5 per cent, our calculation)

Rural, urban, SC and ST counts come from the Census 2011 compilation on citypopulation.de; the percentages are our own calculations. Decadal growth in 2001 to 2011 was 11.10 per cent for the old united state, down from 14.59 per cent (Wikipedia).

Urbanisation

About 29.5 per cent of the people lived in towns in 2011. The main urban centres are Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Kurnool, Rajamahendravaram, Tirupati, Kakinada and Kadapa. Visakhapatnam is the largest city.

Languages

Telugu is the official language, and the state is overwhelmingly Telugu speaking. Urdu, with a large community in Kurnool, Anantapur and Kadapa regions, is the main minority language and has additional official status. The Census 2011 mother-tongue table for the residuary state could not be confirmed. Older figures (Census 2001, united Andhra Pradesh) gave Telugu about 84 per cent, Urdu about 6.5 per cent, Tamil about 1 per cent and Odia about 0.4 per cent, and the 2011 Census recorded 1,113,848 Tamil speakers (Wikipedia). Tamil, Kannada and Odia are spoken near the borders, and Lambadi among the Sugali community.

Religion

On the original 13-district Census counts, Hindus were 44,875,698 (about 90.9 per cent, our calculation), Muslims 3,617,713 (about 7.3 per cent) and Christians 682,660 (about 1.4 per cent); the percentages that appear on some web pages for these groups do not match these counts, so use the counts. Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are each under 0.1 per cent.

Scheduled Castes and Tribes

Scheduled Castes were about 17 per cent and Scheduled Tribes about 5.5 per cent of the population. The tribal share is lower than the national average, and most tribal people live in the northern hills and the Nallamala and Eastern Ghats areas. Among the groups commonly named are the Yanadi and Yerukula of the plains, the Sugali (Lambada), the Konda Dora, Savara, Jatapu, Gadaba, Koya and Konda Reddi of the north, and the Chenchu of the Nallamala forests; the Chenchu are a particularly vulnerable tribal group (reported). We did not confirm the number of notified Scheduled Tribes. Polavaram district, in the hills, reports Scheduled Tribes at about 68.8 per cent of its people.

Health and human development

NFHS-5 (2019-21) reported a total fertility rate of 1.7 children per woman for the state, below the replacement level of 2.1, down from 1.8 in NFHS-4. The sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years was 934 per 1,000 boys, up from 914, and 99.7 per cent of deliveries were institutional (the last two figures come from a secondary summary of NFHS-5 and should be checked against the state fact sheet).

For exam preparation

• Census 2011 population of today's Andhra Pradesh is 49,577,103; the original 13-district count was 49,386,799.
• The state is about 70.5 per cent rural and 29.5 per cent urban.
• Scheduled Castes are about 17 per cent and Scheduled Tribes about 5.5 per cent (calculated from Census counts).
• Telugu is the official language; Urdu is the second most spoken language and additional official language.
• Hindus are about 90.9 per cent and Muslims about 7.3 per cent of the 13-district Census count (calculated).
• NFHS-5 total fertility rate is 1.7, below replacement level.

How the state is governed

Andhra Pradesh has a parliamentary system under the Constitution of India: a Governor as constitutional head, a Chief Minister who leads an elected government, and a legislature with two chambers. This section describes the structure, which stays the same from one government to the next. Names of sitting office-holders change often, so this guide does not list them; for the current Governor, Chief Minister, ministers, Chief Secretary, DGP and Chief Justice, use the official state portal and our current affairs pages. Past office-holders with completed tenures are listed later in this part.

The executive

Office	Role	How filled
Governor	Constitutional head of the state; summons, prorogues and dissolves the Assembly, gives assent to bills, appoints the Chief Minister; ex-officio Chancellor of the state universities	Appointed by the President for five years, serving at the President's pleasure; Wikipedia counts 24 individuals as Governor since 1953
Chief Minister	Head of the government; leads the council of ministers	Leader of the party or alliance with a majority in the Assembly, appointed by the Governor
Council of ministers	Runs the departments; collectively responsible to the Assembly	Capped at 15 per cent of the Assembly under Article 164(1A), which works out to 26 for a 175-seat House
Chief Secretary	Head of the civil service and the secretariat	Senior IAS officer chosen by the government
Director General of Police	Head of the state police	IPS officer, selected under the Supreme Court's Prakash Singh guidelines
Advocate General	Chief legal adviser to the government	Appointed by the Governor under Article 165

Amaravati is the capital. It houses the secretariat, the Legislature, the Governor's residence (Lok Bhavan, earlier Raj Bhavan, which was at Vijayawada) and the High Court. The Assembly has met in an interim building at Amaravati since the 2017 budget session. The capital's legal status has a long and contested history, told under "Political history and movements" below.

Departments and bodies

The government works through departments headed by ministers and run by secretaries. Constitutional and statutory bodies include:

• the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC, Article 315), headquartered at Vijayawada and formed on 1 November 1956 by merging the earlier Andhra and Hyderabad commissions; its strength is a Chairman and nine members;
• the State Election Commission (Article 243K), which runs panchayat and municipal polls;
• the State Finance Commission, the State Information Commission and the State Human Rights Commission;
• the Lokayukta, under the Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act of 1983.

For local government, Wikipedia's state profile gives 28 districts, 688 mandals and 13,324 village panchayats (revenue divisions: 81 or 82, sources differ), and 123 urban local bodies: 17 municipal corporations, 88 municipalities and 18 nagar panchayats. These counts move as bodies are notified, so treat them as approximate. The state had 13 districts until 4 April 2022, when 26 took effect; Markapuram and Polavaram were added from 31 December 2025 to make 28 (Wikipedia). Rural areas have the three-tier Panchayati Raj system of zilla parishad, mandal parishad and gram panchayat.

For exam preparation

• The Governor is appointed by the President; the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor.
• The council of ministers is capped at 15 per cent of the House (Article 164(1A), 91st Amendment), so at most 26 in Andhra Pradesh.
• The Advocate General is covered by Article 165; the Governor's powers by Articles 153 to 167.
• The APPSC is a constitutional body under Article 315; the State Election Commission comes under Article 243K.
• The Governor is ex-officio Chancellor of the state universities.
• Amaravati is the capital; Hyderabad was the common capital only until 2 June 2024.

Legislature, Parliament and judiciary

Andhra Pradesh has a two-chamber legislature: the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) of 175 members and the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) of 58. The state sends 11 members to the Rajya Sabha and 25 to the Lok Sabha. These numbers were set by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, which passed the Lok Sabha on 18 February 2014, the Rajya Sabha on 20 February 2014, received the President's assent on 1 March 2014 and took effect on the "appointed day", 2 June 2014. Undivided Andhra Pradesh had 294 Assembly seats, 42 Lok Sabha seats and 18 Rajya Sabha seats; the new state kept 175, 25 and 11 and Telangana took 119, 17 and 7.

Vidhan Sabha

The Assembly sits for five years unless dissolved sooner; the majority mark is 88. After the merger of 1 November 1956, the combined Assembly of the new state met for the first time on 3 December 1956. Of the 175 seats, 29 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 7 for Scheduled Tribes (the rest are General), as laid down when the map was redrawn in 2014.

The 16th Assembly was elected in May 2024. The result, as in the Election Commission of India (ECI) figures reproduced by Wikipedia, is below. Strength can change through by-elections, defections and vacancies, so check the Assembly website for the live position.

Party	Seats, 2024 election
Telugu Desam Party (TDP)	135
Janasena Party (JSP)	21
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	8
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP)	11
Indian National Congress (INC), CPI(M), CPI	0
Total	175

The three parties that contested together (TDP, JSP and BJP, together called the Kutami) won 164 seats.

Vidhan Parishad

The Council has 58 members: 20 elected by MLAs, 20 by local authorities, 5 by graduates, 5 by teachers and 8 nominated by the Governor (Wikipedia). It is a permanent body; one-third of its members retire every second year. Its history has been uneven. It was formed on 1 July 1958 under Article 169 and inaugurated on 8 July 1958. It was abolished in 1985 through an Act of Parliament. Legislation passed in December 2005 revived it; the new Council was constituted on 30 March 2007 and inaugurated on 2 April 2007. On 27 January 2020 the Assembly passed a resolution to abolish it again, but the government later withdrew that move (reported), so the Council continues.

Rajya Sabha

The state sends 11 members, elected by MLAs by the single transferable vote for six years, with terms staggered so that seats fall due every two years.

Lok Sabha

The state has 25 constituencies: 20 General, 4 Scheduled Caste and 1 Scheduled Tribe. As of the 2024 rolls, Wikipedia's constituency table gives about 4.14 crore electors across the 25 seats.

Category	Constituencies
ST (1)	Araku
SC (4)	Amalapuram, Bapatla, Tirupati, Chittoor
General (20)	Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Narasapuram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Narasaraopet, Ongole, Nandyal, Kurnool, Anantapur, Hindupur, Kadapa, Nellore, Rajampet

High Court and other bodies

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh was first set up at Guntur for Andhra State, then moved to Hyderabad as the court of the united state in 1956. After bifurcation the Hyderabad court served both states as a common High Court until a separate Andhra Pradesh High Court was created by a Presidential order on 1 January 2019. It sits at Nelapadu in Amaravati, in a building with 23 halls. Its sanctioned strength is 37 judges (28 permanent and 9 additional), and Wikipedia shows 29 serving. The first Chief Justice of the new court is shown in the list of past office-holders below.

Below it sit district and sessions courts in each district, family courts and special courts. The Lokayukta is appointed by the Governor after consulting a committee that includes the Chief Minister, the Speaker and the leaders of the opposition in both houses, for a term of five years; a 2019 amendment allowed retired Chief Justices and judges to be considered (Wikipedia, which also places the office at Kurnool; this is reported). The State Election Commission (Article 243K) is led by a Commissioner appointed by the Governor.

For exam preparation

• The Assembly has 175 seats: 29 SC, 7 ST, 139 General.
• The Legislative Council has 58 members; 8 are nominated, and it was abolished in 1985 and revived in 2007.
• Andhra Pradesh has 11 Rajya Sabha seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats (4 SC, 1 ST).
• The four SC Lok Sabha seats are Amalapuram, Bapatla, Tirupati and Chittoor; the ST seat is Araku.
• The separate Andhra Pradesh High Court began on 1 January 2019 and sits at Amaravati.
• The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act took effect on 2 June 2014; seats fell from 294, 42 and 18 to 175, 25 and 11 (Assembly, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha).

Elections

Andhra has held Assembly elections since 1955, first for Andhra State and from 1957 for Andhra Pradesh. The Congress dominated the first three decades. The Telugu Desam Party, founded on 29 March 1982, ended that run in January 1983. Since then power has swung between the TDP and the Congress, and after the 2014 split between the TDP and the YSR Congress Party. The numbers below come from ECI results as reproduced in Wikipedia's election articles, with PRS Legislative Research for the budget. Where sources differ, the difference is noted.

Vidhan Sabha elections, 1983 to 2024

Year	Seats	Turnout	Largest parties (seats; vote share)	Government formed
1983	294	67.70%	TDP 201 (46.30%), INC(I) 60 (33.58%), CPI(M) 5, CPI 4	TDP
1985	294	67.57%	TDP 202 (46.21%), INC 50 (37.25%), CPI 11, CPI(M) 11, BJP 8	TDP
1989	294	70.44%	INC 181 (47.09%), TDP 74 (36.54%), CPI 8, CPI(M) 6, BJP 5	INC
1994	294	71.02%	TDP 216 (44.14%), INC 26 (33.85%), CPI 19, CPI(M) 15, BJP 3	TDP
1999	294	69.15%	TDP 180 (43.87%), INC 91 (40.61%), BJP 12, AIMIM 4	TDP-led (BJP supported)
2004	294	69.96%	INC 185 (38.56%), TDP 47 (37.59%), TRS 26, CPI(M) 9, CPI 6	INC
2009	294	72.72%	INC 156 (36.55%), TDP 92 (28.12%), PRP 18 (16.32%), AIMIM 7	INC
2014	175	about 78%	TDP 102 (44.9%), YSRCP 67 (44.6%), BJP 4	TDP (with BJP)
2019	175	80.39%	YSRCP 151 (49.95%), TDP 23 (39.17%), JSP 1	YSRCP
2024	175	81.87%	TDP 135 (45.60%), JSP 21 (6.87%), BJP 8 (2.83%), YSRCP 11 (39.38%)	TDP-JSP-BJP (Kutami)

Notes on the table. Polling dates: 5 January 1983 (one seat on 27 February 1983); 5, 11 and 18 September 1999; 20 and 26 April 2004; 16 and 23 April 2009; 30 April and 7 May 2014 (one phase for Andhra, the other for Telangana); 11 April 2019; 13 May 2024. The 1999 vote shares and seat counts are for the TDP and the Congress as parties; the TDP's partner, the BJP, won 12 seats. The 2004 and 2009 rows are for the undivided 294-seat House, and 2009's TRS (10 seats, 3.99%) and the earlier TRS wins belong to what is now Telangana. The 2014 turnout is not confirmed to one figure: Wikipedia's Lok Sabha article gives 78.21 per cent for the residual state and its 2019 article implies about 78 per cent for the Assembly poll, so it is shown as "about". The 1999 AIMIM vote figure duplicates the 2009 one in the source table, so it is left out. Vote shares in some tables are rounded differently from ECI's reports, so use them for comparison and not for exact answers.

A point that recurs in questions: seats and votes do not move together. In 2014 the TDP led the YSRCP by about 0.3 percentage points of the vote but by 35 seats. In 2024 the YSRCP polled 39.38 per cent and won 11 seats, while in 2019 the TDP polled 39.17 per cent and won 23.

Earlier elections, 1955 to 1978

The first Assembly election, for Andhra State, was held on 11 February 1955 in 167 constituencies, 29 of them two-member, so 196 seats. The Congress won 119 seats with 39.35 per cent of the vote; the Communist Party of India won 15 seats on 31.13 per cent of the vote, a gap between votes and seats that the article itself records. Turnout was 60.14 per cent. Because Andhra State ended on 31 October 1956, the 1955 Assembly was given a seven-year term, and the 1957 poll was held only in the newly added Telangana region (85 constituencies, 105 seats), where the Congress won 68 and the People's Democratic Front 22. In 1962 the full state of 300 seats voted and the Congress won 177 on 47.25 per cent of the vote, with the CPI second at 51 seats. In 1967 the House had 287 seats and the Congress won 165 (45.42 per cent), with the Swatantra Party at 29. In 1972 the Congress (Requisitionists) won 219 of 287 seats on 52.29 per cent, the highest seat count and vote share in this period. In 1978 the Congress (Indira) won 175 of 294 seats with 39.25 per cent, the Janata Party 60 and the Congress (Requisitionists) 30.

The three most recent elections

2014. The Assembly poll was held together with the Lok Sabha poll on 30 April and 7 May, after the bifurcation law had been passed but before it took effect on 2 June 2014. Andhra voted in the second phase. The TDP, in alliance with the BJP, won 102 seats on 44.9 per cent; the YSRCP, contesting for the first time as a major force, won 67 on 44.6 per cent; the BJP won 4 seats; the Congress, which had won 156 seats in 2009 in the undivided state, won none (2.8 per cent). There were 2 other winners (one Independent, one other party, per the Wikipedia table). The government was formed on 8 June 2014 after about three months of President's rule.

2019. Polling was held on 11 April 2019 in one phase, with counting on 23 May. The YSRCP won 151 of 175 seats on 49.95 per cent, the largest margin in the state's history in percentage-of-seats terms (86 per cent of the House). The TDP won 23 seats (39.17 per cent), the Janasena Party 1 (5.53 per cent), and the BJP and the Congress won none (0.84 and 1.17 per cent). More women (15.79 million) than men (15.55 million) voted, per Wikipedia. The government took office on 30 May 2019.

2024. The schedule was announced on 16 March 2024, polling was held on 13 May together with the Lok Sabha election, and the Assembly's term was due to end on 11 June 2024. The TDP, JSP and BJP contested together and won 164 of 175 seats: TDP 135 (45.60 per cent), JSP 21 (all of the 21 it contested) and BJP 8 of 10. The YSRCP won 11 seats with 39.38 per cent, below the number needed for formal opposition status; Wikipedia records the post of Leader of the Opposition as vacant. The Congress, CPI(M) and CPI won no seats; the Congress has drawn a blank in the Assembly three times in a row (2014, 2019, 2024). Turnout was 81.87 per cent in Wikipedia's table, or 81.86 per cent in the Chief Electoral Officer's announcement; electors were about 4.13 crore. A government was sworn in on 12 June 2024.

Lok Sabha elections, 2004 to 2024

Year	Seats	Turnout	Seats by party	Vote share, leading parties
2004	42 (undivided)	not confirmed	INC 29, TDP 5, TRS 5, others 3	INC 48.4%, TDP 41.5%
2009	42 (undivided)	72.70%	INC 33, TDP 6, TRS 2, others 1	INC 39.68%, TDP 24.93%
2014	25 (residual)	78.21%	TDP 15, YSRCP 8, BJP 2	YSRCP 45.67%, TDP 40.80%, BJP 7.22%
2019	25	80.38%	YSRCP 22, TDP 3	YSRCP 49.89%, TDP 40.19%
2024	25	81.78%	TDP 16, YSRCP 4, BJP 3, JSP 2	YSRCP 39.61%, TDP 37.79%, BJP 11.28%, JSP 4.30%

The 2014 row shows another vote-seat gap: the YSRCP led in votes in the residual state but won seven fewer seats than the TDP. The 2004 and 2009 rows are for the undivided state; the post-2014 state's present boundaries cannot be read off them from these sources, and the "others" counts are by arithmetic from the 42-seat total. In 2024 the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls were held on the same day, as they were in 2014 and 2019.

By-elections

The undivided state had two large clusters of by-elections. Of the 18 Assembly seats that voted on 12 June 2012, 15 went to the YSRCP, two to the Congress and one to the TRS (count from Wikipedia's list of by-elections; the reasons for the vacancies are not covered here). The Kadapa Lok Sabha seat and the Pulivendla Assembly seat voted in May 2011 (Kadapa on 13 May), after the YSRCP's founder left the Congress; he won Kadapa. Since 2014 the residual state has had six Assembly by-elections:

Date	Seat	Winner's party
13 September 2014	Nandigama	TDP
8 November 2014	Allagadda	YSRCP
13 February 2015	Tirupati	TDP
23 August 2017	Nandyal	TDP
30 October 2021	Badvel	YSRCP
23 June 2022	Atmakur	YSRCP

Several of these followed the death of an MLA, and the winner was in some cases a relative of the late member. The Tirupati Lok Sabha by-election was held on 17 April 2021 (counted 2 May) and was won by the YSRCP by about 2.7 lakh votes (as reported by newspapers).

Local body elections

The latest completed cycle in this guide's sources is 2021. Rural elections to gram panchayats were held in four phases on 9, 13, 17 and 21 February 2021, with turnout of 81.78 per cent in phase 1 and 81.61 per cent in phase 2. Urban elections were held on 10 March 2021, with counting on 14 March, after being put off in March 2020 because of COVID-19. Wikipedia's table credits the YSRCP with 97 of 100 urban bodies counted (the TDP won 3), but the same article gives inconsistent corporation counts (12 in the text, 13 in the table), so the figure is reported, not confirmed. The same article says several bodies, including some corporations and 29 municipalities, did not vote that cycle because of court cases and delimitation delays. A 2026 cycle is anticipated but its results are not confirmed here; check the State Election Commission.

Reservation and delimitation

The size of the Assembly has changed with each delimitation: 167 constituencies for Andhra State in 1953; 300 seats (43 SC, 11 ST) from the 1961 Order; 287 seats (40 SC, 11 ST) from the 1964 Order, used in 1967 and 1972; 294 seats (39 SC, 15 ST) from the 1976 Order, used from 1978 to 2004; and 175 seats (29 SC, 7 ST) after the 2014 Act, used in 2019 and 2024. The 2008 Order's figures for undivided Andhra Pradesh are not confirmed in the sources opened. For the Lok Sabha the state has 20 General, 4 SC and 1 ST seat. Seat counts are frozen by Article 170 until the first census taken after 2026, and Census 2011 is the latest published, so no new delimitation has taken place. The 106th Amendment (2023) reserves one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies for women, to take effect after the next delimitation.

Notable firsts and records

• The 1983 result made the TDP the first non-Congress government in the state.
• The 1972 Congress tally of 219 of 287 seats is the highest seat count in this guide's table of results; the 1994 TDP tally of 216 of 294 is the highest since.
• The 2019 YSRCP win of 151 of 175 seats (about 86 per cent of the House) is the largest share of seats among the results listed here.
• The Congress, once the dominant party, has won no Assembly seat in the residual state in 2014, 2019 or 2024.
• The YSRCP was registered with the ECI on 12 March 2011 and became the main opposition within three years.

For exam preparation

• Andhra State's first Assembly election was held on 11 February 1955; the Congress won 119 of 196 seats.
• The TDP was founded on 29 March 1982 and won 201 of 294 seats in January 1983.
• The 2014 election was held before the split took effect; Andhra's Assembly has 175 seats and the Lok Sabha 25.
• The YSRCP won 151 seats in 2019; the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance won 164 in 2024.
• The Congress has won zero Assembly seats in the three elections since 2014.
• The Lok Sabha results: 2014 TDP 15, YSRCP 8, BJP 2; 2019 YSRCP 22, TDP 3; 2024 TDP 16, YSRCP 4, BJP 3, JSP 2.

Past Chief Ministers, Governors and office-holders

Only completed tenures are listed. The Incumbent in each office is not named; see current affairs. Wikipedia counts 19 Chief Ministers since 1953, including the Incumbent. The list below gives each term separately.

Chief Ministers

Term	Chief Minister	Party
1 Oct 1953 to 15 Nov 1954	Tanguturi Prakasam	INC
15 Nov 1954 to 28 Mar 1955	President's rule	none
28 Mar 1955 to 31 Oct 1956	Bezawada Gopala Reddy	INC
1 Nov 1956 to 11 Jan 1960	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	INC
11 Jan 1960 to 12 Mar 1962	Damodaram Sanjivayya	INC
12 Mar 1962 to 20 Feb 1964	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (second term)	INC
21 Feb 1964 to 30 Sep 1971	Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (longest single term, 7 years 221 days)	INC
30 Sep 1971 to 10 Jan 1973	P. V. Narasimha Rao	INC (R)
18 Jan 1973 to 10 Dec 1973	President's rule	none
10 Dec 1973 to 6 Mar 1978	Jalagam Vengala Rao	INC (R)
6 Mar 1978 to 10 Oct 1980	Marri Chenna Reddy	INC (I)
11 Oct 1980 to 24 Feb 1982	Tanguturi Anjaiah	INC (I)
24 Feb 1982 to 20 Sep 1982	Bhavanam Venkatarami Reddy	INC (I)
20 Sep 1982 to 9 Jan 1983	Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy	INC (I)
9 Jan 1983 to 16 Aug 1984	N. T. Rama Rao	TDP
16 Aug to 16 Sep 1984	Nadendla Bhaskara Rao (shortest tenure, 31 days)	TDP
16 Sep 1984 to 2 Dec 1989	N. T. Rama Rao (second and third terms)	TDP
3 Dec 1989 to 17 Dec 1990	Marri Chenna Reddy (second term)	INC (I)
17 Dec 1990 to 9 Oct 1992	N. Janardhana Reddy	INC (I)
9 Oct 1992 to 12 Dec 1994	Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy (second term)	INC (I)
12 Dec 1994 to 1 Sep 1995	N. T. Rama Rao (fourth term)	TDP
1 Sep 1995 to 13 May 2004	Incumbent (earlier term)	TDP
14 May 2004 to 2 Sep 2009	Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy	INC
3 Sep 2009 to 24 Nov 2010	Konijeti Rosaiah	INC
25 Nov 2010 to 1 Mar 2014	N. Kiran Kumar Reddy	INC
1 Mar 2014 to about 8 Jun 2014	President's rule	none
8 Jun 2014 to 29 May 2019	The same TDP leader (earlier terms)	TDP
30 May 2019 to 11 Jun 2024	Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy	YSRCP
12 Jun 2024 onwards	Incumbent	TDP

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy later became President of India and P. V. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister. President's rule has been imposed three times (1954 to 1955, 1973, 2014). (Dates are from Wikipedia's list; the 2014 end date is shown as "about" because the list gives 7 and 8 June.)

Governors

Wikipedia counts 24 Governors since 1953. C. M. Trivedi was the only Governor of Andhra State (1953 to 1956) and continued in Andhra Pradesh until 31 July 1957. Thakur Ram Lal (1983 to 1984) was in office during the 1984 crisis described below. E. S. L. Narasimhan (28 December 2009 to 24 July 2019) served longest, 9 years and 208 days, and also held office in Telangana after 2014 (reported). His successor, Biswabhusan Harichandan, served from 24 July 2019 to 23 February 2023. The Incumbent took office on 24 February 2023.

Speakers of the Assembly

The first Speaker of the combined Assembly was Ayyadevara Kaleswara Rao (4 December 1956 to 26 February 1962). B. V. Subba Reddy (20 March 1962 to 29 September 1971) served longest, 9 years and 195 days. The last completed tenures were those of Kodela Siva Prasada Rao (20 June 2014 to 12 June 2019) and Thammineni Seetharam (13 June 2019 to 21 June 2024). Under Article 178 the Speaker is elected by the Assembly from among its members.

Chief Justices of the Andhra Pradesh High Court (since 2019)

Since the separate court began on 1 January 2019, completed tenures are: C. Praveen Kumar (acting, 1 January to 7 October 2019), J. K. Maheshwari (7 October 2019 to 5 January 2021), Arup Kumar Goswami (6 January to 12 October 2021), Prashant Kumar Mishra (13 October 2021 to 18 May 2023) and Dhiraj Singh Thakur (28 July 2023 to 24 April 2026). The Incumbent took office on 25 April 2026. Dates are from Wikipedia and rest on one source. Chief Justices of the earlier court at Guntur and Hyderabad are not listed here.

For exam preparation

• Andhra State's first Chief Minister was Tanguturi Prakasam (1 October 1953).
• Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the first Chief Minister after the 1956 merger and later became President of India.
• Kasu Brahmananda Reddy had the longest single term (7 years 221 days); Nadendla Bhaskara Rao the shortest (31 days).
• N. T. Rama Rao was the first non-Congress Chief Minister, from 9 January 1983.
• President's rule has been imposed three times: 1954 to 1955, 1973 and 2014.
• E. S. L. Narasimhan was the longest-serving Governor (9 years 208 days).

Political history and movements

The state's politics has been shaped by regional identity: the Telugu-speaking people's demand for their own state in 1953, the arguments over how its regions should share power after 1956, and the demand for a separate Telangana that ended in the 2014 split. Each stage left a mark on the Assembly results above.

Andhra State and the 1956 merger

Potti Sriramulu died on 15 December 1952 during a fast for a Telugu-speaking state, after which Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced the creation of Andhra on 19 December 1952 (Wikipedia). Parliament passed the Andhra State Act in September 1953, and Andhra State came into being on 1 October 1953 from Telugu-speaking districts of Madras State, with Kurnool as its capital. It was the first state formed in independent India on a linguistic basis. On 1 November 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, Andhra State merged with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State to form Andhra Pradesh, with its capital at Hyderabad. The merger rested on an understanding between regional leaders, called the Gentlemen's Agreement, with safeguards for Telangana.

Regional agitations, 1969 to 1973

Complaints that the safeguards for Telangana were not being kept led to a student-led agitation in 1969 that grew into a demand for a separate state. In the other direction, the Supreme Court's ruling at the end of 1972 upholding the "Mulki rules", which reserved jobs in Telangana for local residents, set off the Jai Andhra movement in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. On 21 November 1972, 13 people were killed during a bandh; on 23 December 1972 eight were killed in police firing in Vijayawada. The Chief Minister resigned on 10 January 1973 after nine ministers from the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions quit, and President's rule followed from 18 January to 10 December 1973. The settlement included a Six-Point Formula and the removal of the Mulki rules (Wikipedia).

The Telugu Desam era

The Telugu Desam Party was founded on 29 March 1982 by the film actor N. T. Rama Rao on the theme of Telugu self-respect, and won 201 of 294 seats in 1983. In August 1984 the Governor swore in another TDP legislator as Chief Minister while the founder was away for medical treatment; legislators rallied back, and on 16 September 1984 the founder returned to office. In 1995 an internal revolt moved leadership of the party and government to a new leader, who became party president on 1 September 1995. The founder died in January 1996.

The Telangana demand and bifurcation

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi was formed in 2001 on the single demand of a separate state. On 9 December 2009 the Union Home Minister announced that the process would begin, after a leader of the party began a fast on 29 November; on 23 December 2009 the government paused it after strong protests in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. A five-member committee headed by Justice B. N. Srikrishna was set up in February 2010 and reported in December 2010 (released 6 January 2011), preferring a united state unless a split became unavoidable. The Congress Working Committee resolved to create Telangana on 30 July 2013. The Assembly rejected the bill in January 2014, but the Reorganisation Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 13 February 2014, passed there on 18 February and in the Rajya Sabha on 20 February, and received assent on 1 March 2014. President's rule was in force in the interim, and Telangana came into existence on 2 June 2014.

Realignments, 2008 to 2024

Praja Rajyam Party, launched on 26 August 2008 by a film star, won 18 seats with 16.32 per cent in 2009 and merged with the Congress on 6 February 2011. After the death of the Congress Chief Minister on 2 September 2009, his son left the party; the YSR Congress Party was registered on 12 March 2011, and its founder won the Kadapa Lok Sabha by-election on 13 May 2011. In 2014 the TDP won with BJP support; in 2019 the two parties fought separately and the YSRCP swept the state; in 2024 the TDP, Janasena and BJP contested together and won 164 seats. Special-category status and the Polavaram irrigation project stayed live political issues after 2014; their details are not covered here because the sources were not opened.

The capital question

Hyderabad was to be the common capital for up to 10 years, to 2 June 2024. A site for the new capital was finalised on 1 September 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Act took effect on 30 December 2014, and the foundation stone of Amaravati was laid on 22 October 2015. Farmers from 29 villages in Guntur and Krishna districts pooled about 33,000 acres (Wikipedia). The World Bank withdrew a USD 300 million loan in July 2019.

In December 2019 the government of the day proposed three capitals: executive at Visakhapatnam, legislative at Amaravati and judicial at Kurnool. The Governor assented to the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill on 31 July 2020. Protests by Amaravati farmers began on 17 December 2019. The Act was repealed on 22 November 2021, and the government spoke of a fresh, more comprehensive bill (Wikipedia). In early March 2022 (3 March in one source, 5 March in another) the High Court directed that Amaravati be developed as the capital, and on 28 November 2022 the Supreme Court stayed that judgment. After the 2024 election, work at Amaravati resumed. Parliament then passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which names Amaravati as the capital: it cleared the Lok Sabha on 1 April 2026 and the Rajya Sabha on 2 April 2026 (PRS). Wikipedia reports the President's assent on 6 April 2026 and effect from 2 June 2024; this is single-sourced.

For exam preparation

• Potti Sriramulu died on 15 December 1952; Andhra State began on 1 October 1953 with Kurnool as capital.
• Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act.
• The Jai Andhra movement of 1972 to 1973 ended in President's rule from 18 January 1973.
• The Reorganisation Act, 2014 passed Parliament on 18 and 20 February 2014 and took effect on 2 June 2014.
• The foundation stone of Amaravati was laid on 22 October 2015; the three-capitals Act of 2020 was repealed on 22 November 2021.
• A 2026 amendment to the Reorganisation Act names Amaravati as capital (Parliament, 1 and 2 April 2026).

Budget and governance

Andhra Pradesh presented its 2026-27 budget on 14 February 2026 (PRS Legislative Research). As on 4 October 2026 the numbers below are budget estimates for 2026-27, not final accounts.

Item	2026-27 budget estimate
Total expenditure (excluding debt repayment)	Rs 3,10,058 crore
Revenue expenditure	Rs 2,56,143 crore
Capital expenditure	Rs 48,698 crore (up 47% on the 2025-26 revised estimate of Rs 33,135 crore)
Revenue deficit	Rs 22,003 crore (1.1% of GSDP)
Fiscal deficit	Rs 75,868 crore (3.8% of GSDP; the 2025-26 revised estimate is 4.6%)
Own tax revenue	Rs 1,25,846 crore
Share in central taxes	Rs 64,362 crore
Grants from the Centre	Rs 32,458 crore
Interest payments	Rs 37,281 crore (16% of revenue receipts)
Outstanding liabilities	36% of GSDP (estimate)
GSDP at current prices	Rs 19,75,073 crore (projected growth 12%)

PRS gives a separate total of Rs 3,32,205 crore for total expenditure in its year-on-year comparison, up 11 per cent from Rs 3,00,535 crore in 2025-26; the two totals differ because of what is counted, so quote the one that matches the context. Headline allocations in the same analysis include social security pensions (Rs 27,719 crore), education (Rs 35,673 crore), rural development (Rs 20,610 crore), health (Rs 19,630 crore), irrigation (Rs 16,734 crore), agriculture (Rs 14,433 crore) and urban development (Rs 12,541 crore, which includes Rs 6,000 crore for Amaravati's capital city development). Pensions for staff account for about 10 per cent of revenue receipts (Rs 23,713 crore).

On governance, the main structural changes since 2014 are the shift of the capital, secretariat, legislature and High Court from Hyderabad to Amaravati (the Assembly from 2017, the High Court from 2019); the creation of 13 more districts in 2022 and two more from 31 December 2025; and the statutory naming of Amaravati as capital in 2026. Programme-level e-governance details, including village and ward secretariat systems, were not verified for this edition and are left out.

For exam preparation

• The 2026-27 budget was presented on 14 February 2026; fiscal deficit is estimated at 3.8 per cent of GSDP.
• Revenue deficit is estimated at Rs 22,003 crore, or 1.1 per cent of GSDP.
• Capital expenditure is budgeted at Rs 48,698 crore, up 47 per cent over the revised 2025-26 estimate.
• Outstanding liabilities are estimated at 36 per cent of GSDP.
• The state has 28 districts (from 31 December 2025) and its capital is Amaravati.

Economy

Andhra Pradesh has one of the larger state economies in India, with a long coastline, a big farm and fisheries base, a growing set of ports and industrial clusters, and a services sector that now produces the largest share of output. As on October 2026, the budget documents put the state's gross state domestic product (GSDP, the total value of goods and services produced in the state in a year) for 2026-27 at about ₹19.75 lakh crore, and per capita GSDP for 2024-25 at about ₹2.98 lakh. The state's own growth target is far higher than the national pace, and the main fiscal worry is borrowing, not a shortage of growth.

Size, growth and income

The table below combines the PRS Legislative Research analysis of the 2026-27 budget with the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) state snapshot of April 2026, which draws on Ministry of Statistics data. The latest-year numbers are estimates and are revised later, so treat them as provisional.

Indicator	Value	Source and note
GSDP, current prices, 2024-25	about ₹15.91 lakh crore	IBEF snapshot
GSDP, current prices, 2025-26	about ₹17.62 lakh crore	IBEF snapshot; an earlier budget-stage projection was ₹18.3 lakh crore, so figures differ by source
GSDP, current prices, 2026-27 (budget estimate)	₹19,75,073 crore, about 12% higher	PRS budget analysis
Per capita GSDP, 2024-25	₹2,98,058	PRS; the same source puts the all-India figure at about ₹2.35 lakh (reported)
Real GSDP growth, 2025-26	9.9%, up from 6.5% in 2023-24	State government figure as reported by a newspaper
Merchandise exports, 2025-26	₹1,59,099 crore (about US$18.1 billion)	IBEF snapshot

"Current prices" means the value in that year's rupees; "real growth" removes the effect of inflation. Agencies publish per capita income on different bases (net or gross, current or constant prices), which is why news reports show numbers such as ₹2.68 lakh and ₹2.94 lakh; we use only the PRS figure.

We could not confirm the state's rank by total or per capita GSDP against an official table, so no rank is given.

How the economy is structured

In 2025-26 the share of gross state value added (GSVA, the sector-wise measure of output) at current prices was about 43.1% for services, 35.3% for the primary sector (crops, livestock, forestry, fishing and mining) and 21.6% for industry (IBEF). Three features stand out.

• The primary sector is unusually large. More than a third of output comes from farming, fisheries and mining. Aquaculture and horticulture raise this share, because shrimp, fish, chilli, mango and oil palm have high value per hectare.
• Services lead. Trade, transport, IT and port services, banking, tourism and public administration. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati and Kakinada carry most of it.
• Industry is port- and resource-led. Steel, refining, pharma, cement, food processing and engineering goods dominate. Engineering goods were about 20.9% of merchandise exports in 2025-26 and marine products about 18.2% (IBEF), which makes seafood the second-largest export item.

Fisheries and aquaculture

Aquaculture is the state's best-known economic distinction. Industry reports say Andhra Pradesh produces roughly 70% of India's farmed shrimp and accounts for about three-quarters of shrimp exports, and that it holds about 34% of national inland fisheries production and 44% of fisheries value added (2023-24). These shares come from industry and think-tank summaries, not one official table, so we label them "reported". The state's coastline is 974 km, among the longest in India (Transport in Andhra Pradesh, Wikipedia, cross-checked against IBEF's figure of 974 km).

Shrimp exports depend heavily on the United States, and the 2025 US tariff increase hit the sector; the state government asked the Centre to seek an exemption and also promoted domestic consumption of shrimp (news reports).

Public finances

The 2026-27 budget was presented on 14 February 2026. The figures below are PRS Legislative Research's analysis of the budget documents (published March 2026).

Item (2026-27 budget estimate)	Value
Net expenditure (excluding debt repayment)	₹3,10,058 crore, up 12% on the 2025-26 revised estimate
Capital outlay	₹48,698 crore, up 47%
Revenue receipts	₹2,34,140 crore, up 19%
Revenue deficit	₹22,003 crore, 1.1% of GSDP (2025-26 revised: 2.3%)
Fiscal deficit	₹75,868 crore, 3.8% of GSDP (2025-26 revised: 4.6%, against 4.4% budgeted)
Outstanding liabilities	about 36% of GSDP, up from 33% in 2021-22
Interest and pension payments	₹37,281 crore and ₹23,713 crore (about 16% and 10% of revenue receipts)

Fiscal deficit is the gap between total spending and receipts other than borrowing. The state's Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005 (FRBM) sets yearly targets to bring down the deficit and debt. The 16th Finance Commission has recommended a fiscal deficit ceiling of 3% of GSDP for 2026-31, and 50-year interest-free central loans for capital expenditure are left out when the borrowing ceiling is worked out (PRS). The state has budgeted ₹11,000 crore of such loans for 2026-27. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reported that off-budget borrowings, which are not made directly by the government but are serviced from the budget, stood at ₹1.28 lakh crore in March 2023, about 9.7% of GSDP.

Own taxes. State GST is the largest own-tax source, about 36% of own tax revenue in 2026-27. Other heads are state excise, sales tax/VAT, stamp duty and registration, and motor-vehicle tax. Budget estimates for 2026-27:

Tax head	2026-27 estimate (₹ crore)
State GST	45,078
State excise	30,067
Sales tax / VAT	24,126
Stamp duty and registration fees	18,701

The state expects ₹5,196 crore of non-tax revenue from mining in 2026-27. Central transfers matter too: tax devolution of ₹64,362 crore and grants of ₹32,458 crore are budgeted (PRS).

Jobs and poverty

We did not confirm the state's latest unemployment rate or the NITI Aayog multidimensional poverty figure from an opened source, so neither is quoted here. Look in the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey and NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index report for these. The state's stated goal is per capita GSDP of about ₹5.07 lakh by 2029-30 (IBEF summary); that is a target, not a forecast.

For exam preparation

• Budget 2026-27 was presented on 14 February 2026; fiscal deficit estimate is 3.8% of GSDP and revenue deficit 1.1%.
• GSDP for 2026-27 is projected at ₹19,75,073 crore at current prices.
• Per capita GSDP for 2024-25 was ₹2,98,058 (PRS).
• The coastline is 974 km, and Andhra Pradesh is reported to produce about 70% of India's farmed shrimp.
• Services (43.1%), primary (35.3%) and industry (21.6%) shares of GSVA in 2025-26 come from the IBEF snapshot.

Agriculture, forests, minerals, industry and energy

The state's land use follows its geography: rice, sugarcane, banana and aquaculture in the Godavari and Krishna deltas; chilli, cotton, tobacco and pulses on the black soils of the Guntur and Prakasam belt; groundnut, millets, fruit and tree crops in the dry Rayalaseema region; and coffee, spices and forests in the Eastern Ghats hills of the north-east. Below the surface the Cuddapah basin supplies barytes, limestone and other minerals. On the coast, ports, steel, refining and pharma units are clustered around Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Krishnapatnam.

Major crops and agricultural rankings

Rice is the staple and the main kharif crop, concentrated in the delta districts watered by the Godavari and Krishna, with a second crop in the rabi season. Other major crops are cotton, groundnut, maize, sugarcane, pulses, tobacco and chilli, with horticulture (mango, banana, citrus, oil palm, cocoa, spices) growing fast.

Chilli. According to the first advance estimates for 2024-25 reported by agricultural university outlook notes, India's chilli production was about 26.93 lakh tonnes, of which Andhra Pradesh produced about 10.33 lakh tonnes, or roughly 38%, ahead of Telangana (about 6.89 lakh tonnes). The main growing districts are Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool and Krishna. The Guntur chilli yard is described as one of the largest chilli markets in Asia. Guntur Sannam Chilli has a Geographical Indication (GI) tag (registered 2010-11).

Mango, oil palm and other horticulture. State material reported by a news and reference search ranks Andhra Pradesh first in the area and production of mango, oil palm and chillies, second in citrus and coriander, and high in cashew, banana and flowers. Banganapalle mango (Nandyal region) is widely listed as a GI product of the state, but it is not on the official handloom and handicraft GI list we opened, so we treat it as "reported". We did not obtain current-year production figures for mango.

Tobacco. Andhra Pradesh is a large producer of Virginia tobacco, grown mainly in the coastal and southern light-soil belts around Prakasam, Guntur, Nellore and the Godavari districts, and the Tobacco Board has its headquarters in Guntur. A 2015-era reference page gave the state about 47.6% of national tobacco output; because that is a decade old, we do not rely on it, and no current share is given here.

Irrigation. Surface irrigation rests on the Godavari and Krishna systems (the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage on the Godavari and the Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada on the Krishna) plus Nagarjuna Sagar, Srisailam and Tungabhadra. Rayalaseema still depends on borewells and tanks and is more drought-prone.

Polavaram project

The Polavaram Irrigation Project is on the Godavari in Eluru district, about 40 km upstream of the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage. It is an earth-cum-rock-fill dam with a concrete spillway, and the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 declared it a national project. Its Full Reservoir Level is 45.72 m, with gross storage of about 194 thousand million cubic feet (TMC). The plan includes a 960 MW hydropower station (12 units of 80 MW) and canals with a design capacity of 17,500 cusecs on each bank, and an irrigation potential of about 2.3 million acres across several districts (Wikipedia; project design figures). The resettlement burden is large: about 276 villages and 44,574 families, about half of them tribal households (Wikipedia, reported).

Status as on October 2026: the project is not complete. Overall progress was reported at about 77% in recent news and reference pages, the diaphragm wall (1,372 m long, up to 95 m deep) was reported about 78% done with a February 2026 target, and the budget for 2026-27 allocates ₹6,105 crore (PRS). Completion targets have been revised more than once in public statements: reports mention October 2026, July 2027 and 2029. Check /current-affairs for the latest.

Forests, wildlife and mangroves

According to the India State of Forest Report 2023 (as summarised in secondary sources), forest cover is about 30,085 sq km, about 18% of the state's geographical area, and recorded forest area is about 37,258 sq km (about 22.9%). The numbers are given as "reported" because we read them from a secondary summary.

Important forest and wildlife features:

• Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, spread across Nandyal, Prakasam and Palnadu districts (with the Amrabad portion in Telangana), described as the largest tiger reserve in India at about 3,728 sq km.
• Seshachalam Hills Biosphere Reserve (around Tirumala), notified in 2010, with the Sri Venkateswara National Park. The hills are the home of red sanders, a tree found naturally only in the Eastern Ghats of this region (general reference).
• Coringa and the Godavari mangroves on the delta coast, among the larger mangrove stands on the east coast (general reference).
• Kolleru Lake, a freshwater lake between the Godavari and Krishna deltas and a Ramsar site since 2002 (area about 90,100 hectares), with resident and migratory birds, including the grey pelican.

Minerals

According to Indian Bureau of Mines state reports, Andhra Pradesh accounts for most of India's barytes (reported shares of 92% to 97%, depending on the year), about 40% of calcite, about 41% of mica, about 31% each of kyanite and garnet, and about 16% of bauxite resources, plus limestone, dolomite, quartz, silica sand and vermiculite. The Mangampet deposit in Cuddapah (Kadapa) district is described as the single largest barytes deposit in the world.

Industry

• Steel and refining. The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (a public sector unit) and an HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam anchor industry in the north-coast belt (general reference). In March 2026 the foundation stone was laid for a large integrated steel plant by ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel (AM/NS India) at Anakapalli. Reports describe a two-phase project of about 17.8 million tonnes a year, but they quote different investment totals (roughly ₹1.36 to ₹1.47 lakh crore), so we give only the range.
• Digital infrastructure. Google announced a US$15 billion artificial-intelligence and data-centre hub at Visakhapatnam, with partners AdaniConneX and Airtel's data-centre arm, planned at 1 gigawatt and construction reported to have begun in 2026.
• Industrial parks. Sri City (in Tirupati district), the Atchutapuram and Anakapalli cluster, and the pharma cluster near Visakhapatnam are widely listed as manufacturing hubs (general reference).
• Space. The Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota is India's main satellite launch site (Wikipedia).

Energy

As on mid-2026, reports put Andhra Pradesh's installed power capacity at about 27,587 MW, of which thermal is about 13,908 MW and renewables about 13,488 MW. The state added about 3,866 MW of renewable capacity in 2025-26, nearly four times the 1,085 MW added in 2024-25 (trade press, "reported"). Most coal-based plants sit on the coast, close to ports (IBEF). The Srisailam hydroelectric project on the Krishna has seven 110 MW units on the right (Andhra Pradesh) bank and six 150 MW units on the left bank. Solar parks in Kurnool and Anantapur and wind sites in Rayalaseema are part of the renewable base (general reference).

For exam preparation

• Chilli: about 10.33 lakh tonnes of India's 26.93 lakh tonnes in the 2024-25 first advance estimate, around 38%.
• Polavaram is a national project on the Godavari (Act of 2014), FRL 45.72 m, about 194 TMC, 960 MW; it is still under construction.
• Kolleru Lake became a Ramsar site in 2002.
• Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam is the largest tiger reserve in India by area.
• Mangampet (Cuddapah) is the world's largest barytes deposit, and the state produces almost all of India's barytes.
• Seshachalam is the first biosphere reserve in the state (2010); the Sriharikota launch centre is in the state.

Transport and infrastructure

The state is a transport gateway for eastern and southern India: NH 16 runs the full length of the coast, there are three international airports, a major port plus several deep-water private and state ports, and a new railway zone headquartered in Visakhapatnam. The most visible changes in 2026 are the new Visakhapatnam airport at Bhogapuram and the South Coast Railway zone; the long-planned metro projects have been approved on paper but have not started construction, as far as we could confirm.

Railways

Railways in the state fall under several zones. The South Coast Railway zone, announced on 17 February 2019 and approved by the Union cabinet on 28 February 2019, has been operational since 1 June 2026, with its headquarters at Visakhapatnam. It has four divisions: Guntakal, Guntur, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. The old Waltair division was split, with 460 route-km retained in the new Visakhapatnam division and the rest going to the East Coast Railway's Rayagada and Khurda divisions (Wikipedia). The foundation stone of the zonal headquarters building was laid on 8 January 2025.

Roads

The state's road network is about 1.23 lakh km (reported). National highway length is given as about 8,683 km across 55 highways as of December 2022 (a Wikipedia list drawing on the road ministry; older pages quote about 4,300 km, so check the date before using a figure). NH 16, part of the Golden Quadrilateral, runs along the east coast and is about 1,024 km through the state (reported). Free bus travel for women (Stree Shakti scheme) has an allocation of ₹1,420 crore in the 2026-27 budget.

Airports

Airport	Status
Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport, Bhogapuram (for Visakhapatnam)	Inaugurated on 1 August 2026; commercial operations began on 17 August 2026, when flights moved from the old Visakhapatnam airport at INS Dega. Built by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd on a PPP basis; first-phase terminal about 77,342 sq m for about 6 million passengers a year.
Vijayawada (Gannavaram)	International airport
Tirupati	International airport
Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Kurnool (Orvakal)	Domestic airports
Puttaparthi (Sri Sathya Sai)	Private airport

Ports

The state has a 974 km coastline, one major port (Visakhapatnam, under the Centre) and about 15 notified non-major ports, which together handled about 199 million tonnes in 2023-24 (Wikipedia, reported). Visakhapatnam Port handled about 82.6 million tonnes in 2024-25 and aimed at 90 million tonnes in 2025-26 (trade report). Deep-water ports include Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam. We did not open a port-by-port cargo table, so we give no separate figure for Krishnapatnam or Kakinada.

New ports are being developed at Machilipatnam, Mulapeta (Srikakulam) and Ramayapatnam (Nellore), with a combined target capacity of about 145 million tonnes a year by 2030 (trade report), and AM/NS India has proposed a captive port at Anakapalli with 17 berths.

Metro

• Visakhapatnam. Phase I is proposed as three corridors of about 46.23 km with 42 stations at about ₹11,498 crore; a longer plan of about 76.7 km on four corridors, including a double-decker design along NH 16, has been discussed. The centre gave in-principle approval in February 2026 and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has cleared the project reports for financial appraisal, but as on July 2026 no foundation stone had been laid and a consultant was still preparing the report. Officials said it would take four to five years after the foundation stone.
• Vijayawada. Phase I corridors of about 38.4 km at about ₹11,009 crore have been proposed.

Treat all metro figures as plans (reported).

For exam preparation

• South Coast Railway zone: announced 17 February 2019, operational 1 June 2026, headquarters Visakhapatnam.
• The new Visakhapatnam airport (Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport, Bhogapuram) opened for commercial flights on 17 August 2026.
• Coastline 974 km; one major port (Visakhapatnam) plus non-major ports such as Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam and Kakinada.
• The international airports are at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati.
• Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada metro projects are approved in principle but not yet in construction as of mid-2026 (reported).

Culture, tribes and heritage

Telugu culture draws on a long literary tradition, a temple-centred religious life, hill and forest tribes with their own dance and music, and a dense set of crafts that now carry GI tags. Kuchipudi dance, Kalamkari cloth, Etikoppaka lacquer toys and the Tirupati laddu are the best-known cultural exports. This section focuses on what is most useful for exam preparation, and marks facts we could not verify.

Language and literature

Telugu is the main language. It was granted classical language status by the Government of India in 2008 (general reference). The literary tradition is often traced to Nannaya, who began the Telugu Mahabharata in the eleventh century, followed by Tikkana and Errana, who finished it; the three are called the Kavitraya (trinity of poets) in Telugu literary history. Potana is remembered for the Bhagavatam. Annamacharya, a fifteenth-century composer at Tirumala, wrote thousands of devotional songs, and the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya is credited with the Telugu prabandha work Amuktamalyada and with praising Telugu for its sweetness (general reference). In the modern period, Gurajada Apparao's play Kanyasulkam (1892) is a landmark of social drama, and Sri Sri's poetry collection Mahaprasthanam is a landmark of modern verse.

Tribes

Tribal communities live mostly in the Eastern Ghats north-east and the Nallamala hills; much of the hill area is a Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule. We did not open the state's Scheduled Tribe population figure; it is a small share of the total (Census 2011 gives the exact number).

Tribe (group)	Region	Notes
Konda Dora, Kondh (Khond), Savara (Sora), Gadaba, Jatapu, Bagata, Valmiki	Visakhapatnam hills, Araku, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram uplands	Hill farming, forest produce, coffee under tribal cooperatives; Dhimsa is a widely performed group dance
Koya, Konda Reddi	Godavari hills and agency area	Koya dances with horn masks; forest and shifting farming
Chenchu	Nallamala forests (Nandyal, Prakasam areas)	Forest foragers; a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group
Yenadi, Yerukula	Coastal and southern districts	Many are semi-nomadic, with basket-making and fishing
Lambada (Banjara)	Rayalaseema and elsewhere	Distinctive embroidery and jewellery

The list is a summary based on general reference, not an official schedule. The Scheduled Tribe list is notified under Article 342.

Classical and folk performing arts

• Kuchipudi. The classical dance takes its name from Kuchipudi village in Krishna district, a shortened form of Kuchelapuram (Sahapedia). It is dance-drama built on the Natyashastra tradition and is credited to saint Siddhendra Yogi, who gave it its present shape. Men historically played women's roles. Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam (1929 to 2012) was its best-known teacher and received the Padma Bhushan in 1998. In December 2016, 6,117 performers at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Vijayawada set a Guinness World Record for the largest Kuchipudi performance (news reports).
• Burrakatha. A narrative storytelling form in which a lead performer is accompanied by two co-singers. The name comes from the tambura-like drum called burra. It is used for epics, local heroes and, in modern times, public messages (general reference).
• Tolu Bommalata. Leather shadow-puppet theatre telling Ramayana and Mahabharata episodes. "Andhra Pradesh Leather Puppetry" has a GI tag (2008-09). Nimmalakunta in Anantapur area is a well-known puppet centre (general reference).
• Other forms. Veedhi Natakam (street theatre), Kolatam (stick dance), Dappu (drum) dances, Garagalu (pot dance), Dhimsa (tribal group dance) and Butta Bommalu (a basket-headed folk dance) are commonly listed (general reference).
• Music. The Carnatic tradition is shared with neighbouring states, and Annamacharya's kirtanas are Telugu devotional music.

Festivals and fairs

Festival	Season	Notes
Makara Sankranti / Pongal	January	Three-day harvest festival; kite flying, rangoli, bonfires
Maha Shivaratri	February-March	Major at Srisailam and Srikalahasti
Ugadi	March-April	Telugu New Year; ugadi pachadi
Srivari Brahmotsavam	September-October	Nine-day annual festival at Tirumala (Tirumala article)
Vinayaka Chaviti, Dasara, Deepavali	Autumn	Dasara has special importance at the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada
Godavari and Krishna Pushkaralu	Every 12 years	River festivals; Godavari Pushkaralu was held in 2015 and Krishna Pushkaralu in 2016 (general reference)
Lepakshi Utsav	Annual	State tourism festival at Lepakshi

Cuisine

Rice with spicy lentil and vegetable curries is the basic meal. Dishes widely linked to the state include gongura (roselle leaf) chutney, avakaya (raw mango pickle), pesarattu (green gram dosa), pulihora (tamarind rice), bobbatlu (sweet flatbread), and rich seafood and chilli-heavy coastal dishes. Guntur is famous for chilli, and Kakinada for kaja and Atreyapuram for pootharekulu sweets (general reference). The Tirupati laddu received a GI tag in 2009, after the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) applied in 2008; it is made exclusively by the TTD.

Handicrafts and GI tags

The state's handloom and handicraft department lists these GI-registered products of the state (list as opened, which dates registrations by Indian financial year):

Product	Type	GI year
Srikalahasti Kalamkari	Hand-painted cloth	2004-05
Kondapalli Bommallu (toys)	Handicraft	2007-08
Machilipatnam Kalamkari	Block-printed cloth	2008-09
Budithi Bell and Brass Craft	Metalwork	2008-09
Andhra Pradesh Leather Puppetry	Handicraft	2008-09
Uppada Jamdani Sarees	Handloom	2008-09
Guntur Sannam Chilli	Agricultural	2010-11
Venkatagiri Sarees	Handloom	2011-12
Bobbili Veena	Musical instrument	2011-12
Mangalagiri Sarees and Fabrics	Handloom	2012-13
Dharmavaram Handloom Pattu Sarees and Paavadas	Handloom	2013-14
Udayagiri Wooden Cutlery	Handicraft	2016-17
Durgi Stone Carvings	Handicraft	2017-18
Etikoppaka Toys	Lacquer-turned wooden toys	2017-18
Allagadda Stone Carving	Handicraft	2017-18
Araku Valley Arabica Coffee	Agricultural	2018-19
Narasapur Crochet Lace Products	Handicraft	2023-24
Tirupati Laddu	Food (prasadam)	2009 (secondary sources)

Two crafts need a note. Srikalahasti Kalamkari is hand-drawn with a pen (kalam) and uses natural dyes for temple and epic scenes, while Machilipatnam Kalamkari is block-printed (general reference). Etikoppaka toys are turned from soft wood and coloured with natural lacquer dyes (general reference).

Architecture and art

• Amaravati school of sculpture. The Mahastupa at Amaravati was a major Buddhist monument dating from about the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE, and its carved marble reliefs belong to the Satavahana-period tradition. Colin Mackenzie located it in 1797. Many sculptures were later taken to Chennai and to London (the "Amaravati Marbles" in the British Museum, which entered its collection in the 1880s).
• Vijayanagara temple style. The Veerabhadra temple at Lepakshi (built about 1530) is the prime example in the state, with painted ceilings and a hanging pillar.
• Rock-cut and cave heritage. The Undavalli cave temples near Vijayawada, the Belum caves and the Borra caves are the best-known cave sites (general reference).

For exam preparation

• Telugu was declared a classical language in 2008.
• Kuchipudi is named after Kuchipudi village in Krishna district; the Vijayawada record performance of December 2016 had 6,117 dancers.
• Srikalahasti Kalamkari was the first of the state's GI tags in the official list we checked (2004-05); Machilipatnam Kalamkari followed (2008-09).
• Etikoppaka toys and Durgi stone carvings share the 2017-18 GI year; Araku Valley Arabica Coffee is 2018-19.
• The Tirupati laddu GI dates to 2009.
• Tolu Bommalata (leather puppetry) is a GI-registered craft; Burrakatha is a narrative storytelling form.

Tourism and places of interest

Tourism in the state combines temple pilgrimage (Tirumala, Srisailam, Srikalahasti, Simhachalam, Annavaram), Buddhist and Vijayanagara heritage, hill and cave sites in the Eastern Ghats, and a long beach coast. Tirumala alone draws tens of thousands of pilgrims a day. The UNESCO entries we found are on the tentative list only; we did not confirm any World Heritage inscription in the state.

Key sites

Site	Region / district	Why it matters
Tirumala Venkateswara temple	Tirupati district	Hill temple at about 980 m in the Seshachalam range; Seven Hills (Sapthagiri); run by the TTD since 1932; usually described as one of the richest temples in India
Srisailam	Nandyal district	Both a Jyotirlinga (Mallikarjuna) and a Shakti Peetha; on the Krishna in the Nallamala forest; Srisailam dam nearby
Lepakshi, Veerabhadra temple	Rayalaseema (Anantapur / Sri Sathya Sai area)	Built about 1530 under the Vijayanagara empire; hanging pillar; monolithic Nandi nearby; on UNESCO's tentative list since 2022
Amaravati Mahastupa and museum	Amaravati village, Palnadu district	Buddhist stupa site; ancient Dharanikota, a Satavahana-era centre
Borra Caves	Ananthagiri hills, Araku area, Alluri Sitharama Raju district	Limestone karst caves at about 705 m, with stalactites and stalagmites; the Gosthani river flows out of them; reported discovered in 1807
Araku Valley	Alluri Sitharama Raju district	Eastern Ghats hill resort; tribal culture; GI-tagged Araku coffee
Visakhapatnam	North coast	Beaches (Ramakrishna Beach, Rushikonda), Kailasagiri, Simhachalam temple (general reference)
Kolleru Lake	Between Krishna and West Godavari	Ramsar site since 2002; bird habitat
Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve	Nandyal, Prakasam, Palnadu	Largest tiger reserve in India by area
Undavalli caves, Kondapalli fort, Bhavani Island	Vijayawada area	Cave temples, hill fort and toy village; river island (general reference)
Papikondalu, Konaseema, Rajahmundry	Godavari	Godavari gorge cruises; deltas; Dowleswaram barrage (general reference)
Gandikota, Ahobilam, Belum caves, Mahanandi	Rayalaseema	Pennar gorge and fort; Narasimha temples; cave system; temple pond (general reference)

Heritage designations

• UNESCO tentative list. Lepakshi was submitted on the tentative list in February 2022 under cultural criteria (i), (ii) and (vi). The Natural Heritage of Tirumala Hills is also reported to be on the tentative list. A tentative listing is a first step, not an inscription.
• Ramsar site. Kolleru Lake (2002). We did not confirm other Ramsar sites in the state from an opened source.
• Biosphere reserve. Seshachalam Hills, designated in 2010 (reported).

Tirumala in more detail

The temple sits on Venkatadri, one of seven hills called Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. Press reports put daily footfall at roughly 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims, rising to about half a million at the Brahmotsavam. Direct donations to the TTD between November 2024 and October 2025 were reported at about ₹918.6 crore, with online donations overtaking counter donations for the first time. The offerings (hundi) are widely reported at ₹1,000 crore or more a year. The prasadam laddu is manufactured only by the TTD.

Lepakshi and Amaravati

Lepakshi's temple was built by the brothers Virupanna and Viranna, governors under King Achyutaraya of the Vijayanagara empire. It has about 70 pillars, one of which hangs just clear of the floor. Sources disagree on the dimensions of the Nandi sculpture, so we give none. Amaravati is a site of two things at once: the Buddhist stupa (Colin Mackenzie, 1797; the "Elliot Marbles" carried to Madras in the 1840s) and, separately, the new state capital being developed nearby, which has a ₹6,000 crore allocation in the 2026-27 budget (PRS).

For exam preparation

• Tirumala is at about 980 m on the Seshachalam hills; the TTD was set up in 1932.
• Srisailam is the one temple in the state that is both a Jyotirlinga and a Shakti Peetha.
• The Lepakshi temple dates to about 1530 and is on UNESCO's tentative list (2022).
• Borra Caves are limestone caves in the Ananthagiri hills at about 705 m; Araku is known for GI-tagged coffee.
• The Amaravati stupa dates from about the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE; its sculptures are now in Chennai and London.
• Kolleru is the state's Ramsar wetland (2002).

Education, health, sports and personalities

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 promised the new state a set of national institutions, and most of them started in 2015 or 2016. Together with older state universities such as Andhra University (1926), this makes the state's higher-education map unusually broad for its size. Health numbers are mostly budget numbers here: we did not open a National Family Health Survey table, so we give no NFHS figures.

Central and national institutions

Institution	Place	Year / note
IIT Tirupati	Tirupati	Started 2015-16
IIM Visakhapatnam	Visakhapatnam	Started 2015-16
IISER Tirupati	Tirupati	Started 2015-16
NIT Andhra Pradesh	Tadepalligudem	Started 2015
IIIT Sri City	Sri City	Established 2013
AIIMS Mangalagiri	Mangalagiri (Guntur area)	Established 2018 (reported)
IIPE	Visakhapatnam	Petroleum and energy institute under the Act
Central University of Andhra Pradesh	Anantapur	2018
Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh	Vizianagaram	2019
National Sanskrit University	Tirupati	Deemed from 1956; central status 2020

The 2014 Act provided one IIT, one NIT, one IIM, one IISER, one central university, one petroleum university, one agricultural university and one IIIT (reported parliamentary reply).

State and private universities

University	Place	Year
Andhra University	Visakhapatnam	1926
Sri Venkateswara University	Tirupati	1954
Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University	Guntur	1964
Acharya Nagarjuna University	Guntur	1976
Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam	Tirupati	1983
Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences	Vijayawada	1986
Dravidian University	Kuppam	1997
Yogi Vemana University	Kadapa	2006
Krishna University	Machilipatnam	2008
Rayalaseema University	Kurnool	2008

Private universities include SRM University-AP and VIT-AP; KREA University is also listed (reported).

Literacy and school education

Census 2011 put literacy at about 67% for the residuary state (figures near 67.4% are quoted, and we did not settle the exact decimals). For 2026-27 the budget allocates about ₹35,673 crore to education, sports, arts and culture (PRS), including ₹8,456 crore for the Talliki Vandanam scheme and ₹3,036 crore for Samagra Shiksha. Literacy drives and learning-recovery programmes are not described because we did not verify them.

Health

The budget gives about ₹19,630 crore to health and family welfare for 2026-27, including ₹4,000 crore for the Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva Trust (the state's health insurance and assurance trust) and ₹2,819 crore for medical colleges and teaching hospitals (PRS). Another press summary quoted ₹19,306 crore for health; use the PRS figure when exact numbers are needed. Infant mortality, immunisation and stunting figures are not given because we did not open the NFHS-5 state fact sheet.

Sports

• Stadiums. The cricket stadium at Visakhapatnam (named after a former chief minister) hosts international matches. The ACA International Cricket Stadium at Mangalagiri and the NTR Cricket Stadium at Gollavanigunta (Tirupati area; reported as inaugurated on 15 April 2026) are also listed.
• Olympics. Karnam Malleswari (born in Srikakulam district) won bronze in weightlifting (69 kg, 240 kg total) on 19 September 2000 at Sydney, the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.
• Chess. Koneru Humpy (Arjuna Award 2003), Pentala Harikrishna (Asian Games, 2006) and Dronavalli Harika (Arjuna Award 2007; Asian Games bronze, 2010) are the best-known names.
• Badminton. Pullela Gopichand won the All England title in 2001 and has the Arjuna (1999), Khel Ratna (2001), Padma Shri (2005), Dronacharya (2009) and Padma Bhushan (2014) honours.
• Cricket. V. V. S. Laxman and Hanuma Vihari are listed as notable cricketers with state links (Wikipedia).

Notable people (past and legacy)

Person	Known for
Nannaya, Tikkana, Errana	Telugu Mahabharata poets (the Kavitraya)
Annamacharya	Fifteenth-century devotional composer at Tirumala
Krishnadevaraya	Vijayanagara emperor and patron of Telugu
Gurajada Apparao	Playwright; Kanyasulkam (1892)
Alluri Sitarama Raju	Leader of the Rampa rebellion of 1922-24; the Visakhapatnam airport is named after him
Potti Sreeramulu	Fasted in 1952 for a separate Telugu-speaking state; Andhra State formed in 1953
Pingali Venkayya	Designer of the Indian national flag's first design (general reference)
Vempati Chinna Satyam	Kuchipudi guru; Padma Bhushan 1998
Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao	Playback singer and composer (general reference)
Karnam Malleswari	Olympic bronze medallist, 2000

We list only people whose careers have ended or who are cultural and sporting figures; we do not list serving politicians or officials. Names in the table that are marked "general reference" were not checked against an opened source.

For exam preparation

• IIT Tirupati, IIM Visakhapatnam and IISER Tirupati started in 2015-16; NIT Andhra Pradesh at Tadepalligudem in 2015; AIIMS Mangalagiri in 2018.
• Andhra University (Visakhapatnam) dates from 1926 and Sri Venkateswara University (Tirupati) from 1954.
• Karnam Malleswari won Olympic bronze on 19 September 2000, the first Indian woman Olympic medallist.
• Pullela Gopichand won the All England Open in 2001.
• The Act of 2014 promised one each of IIT, NIT, IIM, IISER and central university.

Government schemes

The state runs a few very large direct-benefit programmes alongside central schemes, and the 2026-27 budget gives each of them a named line. The amounts below are PRS Legislative Research's reading of the 2026-27 budget documents (published March 2026). Eligibility rules and per-person amounts change often and are set by government orders, so read the latest order or portal notice before quoting them; we deliberately do not give per-beneficiary amounts that we could not check.

State schemes (2026-27 budget lines)

Scheme	Budget 2026-27	What it does
NTR Bharosa Pension	₹27,719 crore	Monthly social security pensions (older people, widows, disabled and others). The 16th Finance Commission noted the state's per capita pension spending was the highest among states (₹5,061 per head, 2025-26 budget)
Talliki Vandanam	₹8,456 crore	Education-linked support for mothers or guardians of school-going children (reported; check the current order for eligibility)
Annadata Sukhibhava	₹6,600 crore	Income support for farmers, linked with the central PM-KISAN (reported)
Stree Shakti	₹1,420 crore	Free bus travel for women in state buses
Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva Trust	₹4,000 crore	State health assurance cover for families (check the current coverage limits)
Rice subsidy	₹3,344 crore	Subsidised rice through the public distribution system
Amaravati capital city	₹6,000 crore	Capital development (not a welfare scheme but the biggest urban line)
Polavaram	₹6,105 crore	Irrigation project

Two other programmes are widely reported but we did not verify their current terms, so the details are left out: the free cooking-gas cylinder scheme (known as Deepam) and the subsidised-meals Anna Canteens.

Central schemes in the budget

• VB-G RAM G (the rural employment guarantee scheme under its new name in the budget document): about ₹8,365 crore in PRS's reading; a newspaper summary gives a lower figure of ₹4,605 crore, which may be the state share only.
• Samagra Shiksha: ₹3,036 crore.
• Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0: ₹941 crore.
• PM Rashtriya Krushi Vikas Yojana: ₹1,365 crore.
• PM Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and PM-KISAN also operate in the state. We have not verified state-level amounts for them.

For exam preparation

• NTR Bharosa pension has the largest scheme line in the 2026-27 budget at ₹27,719 crore.
• Stree Shakti gives women free bus travel.
• Annadata Sukhibhava is the farmer income-support scheme; Talliki Vandanam supports mothers of school-going children.
• The Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva Trust runs state health assurance.
• The 2026-27 budget was presented on 14 February 2026.

Government exams in Andhra Pradesh

Government recruitment in Andhra Pradesh runs through a few bodies. The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) selects officers for Group 1 and Group 2 and fills other state posts. The State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB) recruits constables and sub-inspectors. The District Selection Committee, working with the School Education Department, runs the DSC teacher recruitment test and the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). The High Court recruits its own staff and judges. Vacancy numbers, dates and age limits change with every notification, so treat every figure below as a pointer and check the latest notification before you apply. Where a figure comes from a news or coaching site and not from a notice we read, we say "reported".

Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC)

The commission was set up on 1 November 1956, when the state was formed, and is a constitutional body under Article 315, with functions listed in Article 320. Its headquarters are at Vijayawada. It has a chairman and a number of members (one reference says nine). It conducts direct recruitment to Group 1, 2 and 3 state services, among other work. The official site is psc.ap.gov.in; the portal for applications is separate and uses a one-time profile registration (OTPR).

Group 1 (Gazetted officers: Deputy Collector, DSP, commercial tax, district education officer and similar). The reported scheme has three stages.

Stage	Reported pattern
Prelims (screening)	Two objective papers, 120 questions and 120 marks each, 2 hours each. Counts only as a screening test for the Mains. Sources disagree on negative marking (one-third mark in some, none in others), so read the notification.
Mains	Seven descriptive papers of 150 marks, 3 hours each. Telugu and English are qualifying; five papers (essay, history-culture-geography, polity-governance-ethics, economy, science and technology) count for merit, 750 marks.
Interview	75 marks. Final merit is Mains plus interview, 825 marks.

A brief notification for the 2026 Group 1 cycle was reported on 15 September 2026, with 163 posts and applications from 6 to 27 October 2026. Read the detailed notification for the exact schedule, because we did not open the commission's own notice.

Group 2 (Executive and non-executive posts such as Deputy Tahsildar, Sub-Registrar and Assistant Section Officer). The pattern reported for the 2023-25 cycle is a screening test and a Mains, followed by a Computer Proficiency Test (CPT) for specified posts.

Stage	Reported pattern
Screening test	One paper: General Studies and Mental Ability, 150 questions, 150 marks, 150 minutes, one-third negative marking reported.
Mains	Two objective papers of 150 marks each (300 total), 150 minutes each. Paper 1: Social History of Andhra Pradesh and an overview of the Indian Constitution. Paper 2: Indian and AP economy and science and technology.
CPT	Qualifying test for the posts that need it.

Group 3 and other services. The commission also recruits for Group 3 and a long list of departmental posts. We could not confirm a Group 3 pattern from an official or reliable source, so check the notification.

Qualification and age. A bachelor's degree is the base qualification for Group 1 and 2, with specific degrees for some posts. The upper age limit for direct recruitment has been raised several times; see the rules section below.

State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB)

The board (slprb.ap.gov.in) recruits Police Constables (Civil and Armed Reserve), APSP constables, Sub-Inspectors (Civil, AR, APSP), and also posts such as fireman, jail warder, scientific assistants in the forensic labs and Assistant Public Prosecutors. Selection normally has a preliminary written test, a Physical Measurement Test (PMT), a Physical Efficiency Test (PET) and a final written exam.

Police Constable. Our AP Police Constable guide describes the prelims as 200 questions, 200 marks and 180 minutes with no negative marking. The latest completed cycle we could verify is the one notified on 20 October 2022: 6,100 posts, 3,580 Civil constables (men and women) and 2,520 APSP constables (men). The final written exam was held on 1 June 2025, 37,600 of 38,555 hall-ticket holders reportedly appeared, and results came on 30 July 2025. The PET events reported for general male Civil candidates are a 1600 m run in 8 minutes, a 100 m run in 15 seconds and a long jump of 3.80 m. Class 12 is the reported qualification. Constable age and height rules for a new cycle must be read from its notification.

Sub-Inspector. Our AP SI guide covers the prelims of two papers of 100 questions each (Arithmetic and Reasoning; General Studies and Science), no negative marking. The 2022 notification advertised 411 posts (315 Civil SI and 96 APSP Reserve SI), with a degree from a recognised university and an age of 21 to 27 on 1 July 2022 for general candidates. Its stages were the prelims (held 19 February 2023), PMT, PET and a final written exam of four papers. One coaching source reports these final papers as English and Telugu/Urdu (descriptive, 100 marks each) and Arithmetic and Reasoning and General Studies (objective, 200 marks each); treat that as reported.

Qualifying marks in the police written tests are reported as 40% for open, 35% for BC and 30% for SC, ST and ex-servicemen, which matches our exam pages.

AP DSC and TET (teachers)

TET. The state TET has four papers: 1A (classes 1 to 5), 2A (classes 6 to 8), and 1B and 2B for special-school teachers. Qualifying marks reported for the December 2025 exam (held 10 December 2025) are 60% for open and EWS, 50% for Backward Classes and 40% for SC, ST, persons with disabilities and ex-servicemen. The certificate is reported to be valid for life, and the TET score carries 20% weightage in the teacher recruitment test.

DSC (Teacher Recruitment Test). The 2025 "Mega DSC" notification advertised 16,347 posts, reported as School Assistant 7,725, Secondary Grade Teacher 6,371, TGT 1,781, PGT 286, Physical Education Teacher 132 and Principal 52, with 14,088 posts at district level and 2,259 at state or zonal level. The test was a computer-based test held in June and July 2025, the fee was reported as Rs 750, and the age range as 18 to 44 with relaxations. The merit list gives 80% weight to the DSC test and 20% to TET, except physical-education posts, which use the DSC test alone. Applicants need the post's degree plus B.Ed or D.Ed and a TET pass. The district-level split matters because district posts follow the local-cadre rules explained below.

High Court of Andhra Pradesh

The High Court has sat at Amaravati since 1 January 2019, after the bifurcation of the state. It recruits staff for itself and for the district judiciary. A 2025 notification set was reported with 1,620 posts, among them Junior Assistant (230), Typist (162), Process Server (164) and Examiner (32), an age range of 18 to 42 on 1 July 2025, and a written test of 80 questions in 90 minutes, followed by a typing or driving skill test where relevant, document verification and a medical examination. Graduation is the reported qualification for Junior Assistant and Typist, Intermediate for Examiner and Class 10 for Process Server. The court's own site listed judicial notifications in late September and early October 2026: 119 Civil Judge (Junior Division) posts, 10 direct District Judge posts, and limited departmental exams for Civil Judge (Senior Division) and District Judge. Check aphc.gov.in for the live notice.

Grama and Ward Sachivalayam

The village and ward secretariat system created the largest single recruitment in the state. The 2019 notification covered 1,26,728 posts with an exam on 1 September 2019, reported as two papers (General Studies; Arithmetic and Logical Ability) of 100 marks each with no negative marking for most posts, while specialist posts such as the Ward Education and Data Processing Secretary had a separate subject paper and negative marking. Panchayat Secretary Grade 6 (Digital Assistant) had 11,158 posts that year. Some websites talk of a new recruitment in 2026, but we found no reliable notification, so we do not state posts, dates or the conducting body. Follow our Andhra Pradesh government jobs page.

Other recruiters

District Medical and Health offices, universities, the Forest Department, the Revenue Department and corporations advertise on their own sites or through the APPSC. A monthly look at psc.ap.gov.in, slprb.ap.gov.in, the DSC portal and our state jobs page is the practical way to catch them. Practise with our mock tests. For neighbouring states see Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh.

For exam preparation

• The APPSC was established on 1 November 1956 and is an Article 315 body with functions in Article 320.
• Group 1 Mains has seven papers of 150 marks, with Telugu and English qualifying, plus a 75-mark interview.
• Group 2 Mains has two papers of 150 marks each, on social history and the Constitution, and on the economy and science.
• AP Police recruitment is run by the SLPRB through PMT, PET and a final written exam.
• The 2022 constable cycle advertised 6,100 posts (3,580 Civil and 2,520 APSP) and the SI cycle 411 posts.
• TET qualifying marks are 60%, 50% and 40% by category, and the TET gets 20% weight in the DSC merit.

Domicile, reservation and recruitment rules

In Andhra Pradesh, where you studied and where you live can decide whether you compete for a district post, a zonal post or a state post. The state has a special constitutional arrangement for this, Article 371D, plus a set of reservation rules for caste, gender and other categories. This section explains the main rules from the sources we opened. Always read the notification, because each exam overrides the general rule.

Local cadre and the Presidential Order

Article 371D was inserted by the Constitution (Thirty-second Amendment) Act, 1973. It lets the President make orders for equal opportunity in public employment and education for people from different parts of the state. Under it the President issued the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Organisation of Local Cadres and Regulation of Direct Recruitment) Order, 1975 (GO Ms No. 674, 20 October 1975), usually called the Presidential Order. It lets the state organise posts into local cadres (district, zonal, multi-zonal and state level) and reserve direct-recruitment posts for local candidates of that area.

How much is reserved for locals has two versions in our sources. The original scheme is described as 80% for locals of the area and 20% open to locals and non-locals on combined merit. A 2002 government order amending the implementing instructions, quoted in a 2024 Supreme Court judgment, sets 30% open and 70% local. We could not confirm which split applies to each cadre today, so read your notification for the "local" and "open" shares.

The test for being a local candidate in the Order is, as reported, study in the area for at least four consecutive academic years ending with the year of the qualifying exam. Where that does not apply, the Order has residence-based alternatives that we could not read in full, so check the Tahsildar's local-status requirements. District and zone matter in practice for DSC, constable and many Class 3 posts.

What changed after 2014 and 2022

• 2014. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (assented on 1 March 2014; appointed day 2 June 2014) created Telangana and kept Article 371D for both states. Sections 95 and 97 deal with education and with transfer of public employees. Hyderabad was to remain a common capital for no more than ten years.
• 2022 districts. The state went from 13 to 26 districts on 4 April 2022. The staff allocation to the new districts followed the Six Point Formula and the 1975 Presidential Order, according to reports.
• Later districts and cadres. Markapuram and Polavaram districts were reported as constituted on 27 November 2025, taking the state to 28 districts. A news report dated July 2026 describes a government order to restructure local cadres across 26 districts, 6 zones and 2 multi-zones, with a freeze on new posts, promotions and transfers during allocation. Because the district count and the cadre map are in motion, read your notification for which areas count as "local".

Reservation in state services

The Andhra Pradesh State and Subordinate Service Rules, Rule 22, sets the roster for direct recruitment as reported by a service-rules explainer.

Category	Share
Scheduled Castes (SC)	15%
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	6%
Backward Classes	29%: BC-A 7%, BC-B 10%, BC-C 1%, BC-D 7%, BC-E 4%
Subtotal (SC + ST + BC)	50%
Women	33⅓% (one-third) in every category, applied horizontally since 28 May 1996
Economically Weaker Sections	10% (103rd Constitutional Amendment), outside the 50% above

BC-A to BC-D are groups of backward castes; BC-E covers certain Muslim communities. The state introduced a 4% Muslim quota in 2004 and the Supreme Court has examined its validity, so read it as a category in the roster, not a settled question. Rule 22 also lists horizontal slots for persons with disabilities, ex-servicemen and sportspersons; the version we read gives 3, 2 and 2 positions per 100, which may be older than the current disability law, so check the notification for the present quota.

EWS: the state ordered 10% EWS reservation in services and education, for families with income below Rs 8 lakh a year. A 2019 attempt to give half of it (5%) to the Kapu community was reported to be stuck in court, with the Kapus using the common EWS rules meanwhile. We did not confirm the later position.

SC sub-classification (2025). On 17 April 2025 the state issued the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes (Sub-classification) Ordinance, 2025 (Ordinance No. 2 of 2025) after the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment allowed states to sub-classify. The 15% SC share is split into three groups: Group I 1% (12 castes), Group II 6.5% (18 castes) and Group III 7.5% (29 castes), 59 castes in all, on 2011 Census data. It was reported that the Mega DSC would apply it. Check the notification of a new exam to see whether your caste group's roster point is shown.

Age limits and relaxation

• Non-uniformed posts: the upper age limit for direct recruitment was 34, raised to 42 years by earlier orders, and a report of 15 September 2026 says it was raised to 44 until 30 September 2027. One coaching site still lists 42 for the 2026 Group 1 notification, so confirm the figure in the notice.
• Uniformed posts (police, excise, fire, prisons, forest, transport) are reported to be excluded from the 44-year rule. A two-year general-category relaxation for uniformed services was extended by one year to 30 September 2027, as reported.
• Typical relaxation: 5 years for SC, ST and BC candidates and up to 10 years for persons with disabilities, as reported for Group 1. Ex-servicemen get 3 years plus service. Local AP candidates in the police cycle were reported with higher limits; read the notice.
• The SI cycle of 2022 set 21 to 27 years for general candidates on 1 July 2022.

Selection stages and cycles

Officer posts use Prelims, Mains and an interview (Group 1) or a screening test, Mains and CPT (Group 2). Police use PMT, PET and written tests. Teachers use a computer-based test with TET weightage. Notifications arrive at irregular times, sometimes with a short brief notice first and the detailed notification later.

For exam preparation

• Article 371D was inserted in 1973; the Presidential Order is dated 20 October 1975.
• The state reservation roster is SC 15%, ST 6% and BC 29% (A 7, B 10, C 1, D 7, E 4), with one-third for women in every category.
• EWS 10% sits outside the 50% base roster.
• The SC sub-classification ordinance of April 2025 splits 15% into 1%, 6.5% and 7.5%.
• The state moved from 13 to 26 districts on 4 April 2022.
• The Reorganisation Act, 2014 took effect on 2 June 2014.

How to use this guide for exam preparation

Use this page for the state-specific part of the paper. For APPSC Group 1 and Group 2, Paper 1 of the Group 2 Mains is literally the social history of Andhra Pradesh plus the Constitution, so the History, Culture, Geography and Government sections of this guide are directly examinable. Police and teacher exams ask the state's GK in smaller doses inside a general paper, so the Overview, Geography and Government schemes sections are enough for most of it.

High-yield sections

• History and statehood. Andhra State (1 October 1953), Andhra Pradesh (1 November 1956), bifurcation (2 June 2014).
• Geography. Rivers (Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Penna), Eastern Ghats, the 974 km coastline, ports and districts.
• Government and Constitution. Article 371D, the Presidential Order, Article 315 and 320, reservation numbers.
• Economy and schemes. Group 2 Paper 2 includes the state economy, so learn the latest Economic Survey indicators and flagship schemes.
• Culture. Literature, dance, festivals, and GI tags are standard one-line questions.

Four-week plan

Week	Focus	Task
1	History and statehood, Overview	Read once, then do 20 questions a day from the rapid-fire table.
2	Geography, rivers, parks, ports, districts	Draw the river map, list districts with headquarters.
3	Government, Constitution, reservation, economy, schemes	Re-read the rules section; note as-on dates.
4	Culture, current affairs, mocks	Take full-length mock tests, then review errors.

For the police exams, add arithmetic and reasoning every day, because those papers weigh them heavily, and start physical training early. See the constable and SI guides for patterns. There is no negative marking in the police written tests as per our pages, so attempt every question; for APPSC, check negative marking in the notification first.

Common traps

• The district count changed from 13 to 26 and then, reportedly, to 28. Read the question year.
• The state capital changed in meaning after 2014: Hyderabad was a shared capital for up to ten years, and the state's own capital is Amaravati.
• Reservation numbers differ between the services roster and education quotas.
• A "local" is defined by study years, not only birth.
• Old coaching material may show the 34-year age limit; use the notification.
• Names of office-holders change. For anyone currently in office, use current affairs.

For exam preparation

• Group 2 Mains Paper 1 covers social history of Andhra Pradesh and the Indian Constitution.
• Four weeks is enough to cover this guide once and revise it once.
• Police exams have no negative marking, so attempt all questions.
• Check as-on dates on every changing figure.

Rapid-fire facts

Fact	Answer
Andhra State formed	1 October 1953
Andhra Pradesh formed	1 November 1956
Telangana created by	Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014
Act assented	1 March 2014
Appointed day of bifurcation	2 June 2014
Hyderabad common-capital limit	Not more than ten years
State capital	Amaravati
Largest city	Visakhapatnam
Official language	Telugu
Area	162,975 sq km
Coastline	974 km, second longest among states
Population, Census 2011	49,577,103
Literacy, Census 2011	67.35%
Sex ratio, Census 2011	997 females per 1,000 males
Lok Sabha seats	25
Districts, April 2022	26
Districts reported, Nov 2025	28 (Markapuram, Polavaram added)
New districts day	4 April 2022
State animal	Blackbuck
State bird	Rose-ringed parakeet
State tree	Neem
State flower	Jasmine
Rivers flowing east	Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Penna
High Court established at Amaravati	1 January 2019
High Court seat	Nelapadu, Amaravati
High Court sanctioned strength	37 (28 permanent, 9 additional)
APPSC established	1 November 1956
APPSC constitutional basis	Article 315; functions in Article 320
APPSC headquarters	Vijayawada
Article for local cadres	Article 371D
Article 371D inserted by	32nd Amendment, 1973
Presidential Order for local cadres	1975 (GO Ms No. 674, 20 October 1975)
Original local-candidate share	80% local, 20% open
2002 amended split (reported)	30% open, 70% local
Local candidate study test	Four consecutive academic years (reported)
SC reservation in services	15%
ST reservation in services	6%
BC reservation in services	29%
BC-A share	7%
BC-B share	10%
BC-C share	1%
BC-D share	7%
BC-E share	4%
SC + ST + BC total	50%
EWS reservation	10%
EWS income limit reported	Below Rs 8 lakh a year
Women reservation	One-third in each category
Women quota effective from	28 May 1996
SC sub-classification ordinance	17 April 2025
SC Group I share	1% (12 castes)
SC Group II share	6.5% (18 castes)
SC Group III share	7.5% (29 castes)
Castes in SC sub-classification	59
Group 1 Prelims	Two papers, 120 questions each
Group 1 Mains papers	Seven, of 150 marks
Group 1 qualifying papers	Telugu and English
Group 1 merit papers	Five (750 marks)
Group 1 interview	75 marks
Group 1 final merit total	825 marks
Group 1 2026 posts reported	163
Group 2 screening test	150 questions, 150 marks, 150 minutes
Group 2 Mains	Two papers of 150 marks
Group 2 Mains Paper 1	Social history of AP and Indian Constitution
Group 2 Mains Paper 2	Indian and AP economy; science and technology
Group 2 final stage	Computer Proficiency Test (specified posts)
Police recruiting body	SLPRB
Constable cycle (notified 20 Oct 2022)	6,100 posts
Civil constable posts in that cycle	3,580
APSP constable posts in that cycle	2,520
Constable final exam held	1 June 2025
Constable results	30 July 2025
Constable prelims (our guide)	200 questions, 180 minutes
Constable PET 1600 m, general	8 minutes
Constable PET 100 m, general	15 seconds
Constable PET long jump, general	3.80 m
SI cycle posts (2022 notice)	411 (315 Civil, 96 APSP)
SI age, general, 2022	21 to 27 on 1 July 2022
SI prelims held	19 February 2023
SI prelims papers	Two of 100 questions each
Police written exam negative marking	None
Police qualifying marks	40% OC, 35% BC, 30% SC/ST/ex-servicemen
TET papers	1A, 1B, 2A, 2B
TET qualifying marks	60% open/EWS, 50% BC, 40% SC/ST/PwBD
TET validity	Lifetime (reported)
TET 2025 exam date	10 December 2025
Mega DSC 2025 posts	16,347
School Assistant posts in Mega DSC	7,725
SGT posts in Mega DSC	6,371
DSC merit weight	80% DSC test, 20% TET
High Court 2025 staff test	80 questions in 90 minutes
Grama Sachivalayam 2019 posts	1,26,728
Grama Sachivalayam exam date	1 September 2019
Non-uniformed age limit (reported Sept 2026)	44, until 30 September 2027

Frequently asked questions

Who conducts the APPSC Group 1 exam in Andhra Pradesh?

The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission, at psc.ap.gov.in. The reported stages are Prelims, Mains and an interview.

What is the APPSC Group 1 exam pattern?

Reported: two Prelims papers of 120 marks each, a seven-paper Mains of 150 marks each (Telugu and English qualifying) and a 75-mark interview. Check negative marking in the notification, because sources differ.

What is the APPSC Group 2 exam pattern?

A 150-mark screening test, a Mains of two 150-mark objective papers and a Computer Proficiency Test for some posts, as reported.

Is there an interview in APPSC Group 2?

Not in the pattern we found. The reported stages are the screening test, Mains and CPT. Confirm in the notification.

What is the AP Police Constable exam pattern?

Our AP Constable guide lists a 200-question, 200-mark, 180-minute prelims with no negative marking, followed by PMT, PET and a final written exam.

What is the AP Police SI exam pattern?

The AP SI guide lists two prelims papers of 100 questions each, with no negative marking, then PMT, PET and a four-paper final exam.

Who conducts AP Police recruitment?

The State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB), at slprb.ap.gov.in.

Is there negative marking in AP Police exams?

No, according to our exam guides for the constable and SI prelims.

What is the qualification for AP Police Constable?

Class 12, as reported for the 2022 cycle. Check the notification.

What is the qualification and age for AP Police SI?

A degree from a recognised university; the 2022 notice set 21 to 27 years for general candidates with relaxation for reserved categories.

What are the AP TET qualifying marks?

Reported as 60% for open and EWS, 50% for BC and 40% for SC, ST and persons with disabilities.

Is the AP TET certificate valid for life?

Reported to be valid for a lifetime, with 20% weight in the DSC.

How is the AP DSC merit list prepared?

Reported at 80% for the DSC test and 20% for the TET score, except physical-education posts, which use the DSC test only.

What is the local candidate rule in Andhra Pradesh?

Under Article 371D and the 1975 Presidential Order, direct-recruitment posts in a local cadre are reserved largely for locals of that area; study for four consecutive years in the area is the reported test. See the rules section above.

How much reservation is there in Andhra Pradesh government jobs?

SC 15%, ST 6%, BC 29% (groups A to E), plus 10% EWS and one-third for women in every category, as reported from Rule 22 of the service rules.

Is there SC sub-categorisation in Andhra Pradesh?

Yes. An ordinance of 17 April 2025 splits the 15% SC share into 1%, 6.5% and 7.5% across three groups.

What is the upper age limit for AP government jobs?

For non-uniformed posts a September 2026 report says 44 years until 30 September 2027, and uniformed police-type posts are reported to be excluded. Check each notification.

How many districts does Andhra Pradesh have now?

26 from 4 April 2022, and a report says 28 after Markapuram and Polavaram were constituted in November 2025. Check the current list.

Where is the AP High Court?

At Nelapadu, Amaravati; it was established on 1 January 2019.

Where can I find free practice tests?

On our online test series and the Andhra Pradesh government jobs page.

Sources and verification

Time-sensitive facts (budget, exam rules, district count, capital law) were checked on 4 October 2026. Where sources disagreed or a figure came from a single secondary source, the text says so. Election figures are Wikipedia reproductions of Election Commission data, with the 2026-27 budget from PRS Legislative Research; cross-check Election Commission results before quoting a number in an answer. Census 2011 is the latest published census.

Facts verified on 4 October 2026. For exam figures from news or coaching sites we use the word "reported". Pages opened for this section: the APPSC portal (psc.ap.gov.in, limited content) and SLPRB site; Wikipedia pages for the APPSC, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 and Reservation in India; the High Court of Andhra Pradesh recruitment page for 2026 (aphc.gov.in); Supreme Court judgments 2024 INSC 176 and 2025 INSC 1058; Deccan Chronicle reports on the local-cadre order, the age-limit order and the zilla parishad restructuring; The Week and Scroll reports on the SC sub-classification, the SI notification and the constable result; Careers360 pages on TET, Group 1 and Group 1 pattern; Sakshi Post on the Mega DSC; Adda247 on the Group 1 2026 notification; SSC Adda on police recruitment; Teachersbadi pages on Rule 22 and Group 2; and Anantamias on APPSC patterns. Several details (High Court 2025 posts, Grama Sachivalayam, EWS and Kapu, local-candidate definition) come from search-result summaries and are marked "reported". The pattern for Group 3 and any current notification dates were not confirmed; check psc.ap.gov.in, slprb.ap.gov.in and aphc.gov.in.