| Abstract: | Local self-government occupies a foundational place in India’s democratic and developmental architecture, and the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) created under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, are intended to function as genuine “institutions of self-government” rather than mere implementing agencies of higher tiers. This paper examines the financial resources of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system in Andhra Pradesh, combining a micro-level case study of Boni Gram Panchayat, Anandapuram Mandal Parishad and the undivided Visakhapatnam Zilla Parishad (2013–14 to 2017–18) with a macro-level review of state and union fiscal devolution to Panchayats up to 2025–26. Drawing on the Andhra Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, successive Union and State Finance Commission reports, and recent data from the Fifth State Finance Commission of Andhra Pradesh (2025–2030), the study finds that Gram Panchayats continue to derive a relatively larger, though still modest, share of income from own sources such as house tax and rents, while Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads remain almost entirely dependent on grants from higher tiers of government. Own source revenue of Gram Panchayats in Andhra Pradesh constituted only about 29 percent of total receipts in 2023–24, despite a reported 12 percent compound annual growth rate over the preceding five years. The paper documents chronic problems of delayed and partial acceptance of State Finance Commission recommendations, poor property tax buoyancy, weak accounting and audit systems, staff shortages and diversion of grants, and situates the Visakhapatnam-area case study within the 2022 reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh’s district boundaries. The paper concludes with policy suggestions for strengthening own-source revenue mobilisation, timely and rule-based devolution, and accountability of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Andhra Pradesh. |
