Economy

Agriculture has been the chief source of income for the state's economy. Four important rivers of India, the Godavari, Krishna, Penna and Thungabhadra flow through the state, providing irrigation. Rice, sugarcane, cotton, mirchi (chilli pepper), mango and tobacco are the local crops. Recently, crops used for vegetable oil production such as sunflower and peanuts have gained favour.The state has also started to focus on the fields of information technology and biotechnology. In 2004–2005, Andhra Pradesh was at the fifth position in the list of top IT exporting states of India. The IT exports from the State were Rs.82,700 million in 2004–2005 ($1.8 billion). The IT sector is expanding at a rate of 52.3% every year. The IT exports reached Rs.190,000 million ($4.5 billion) in 2006–2007, contributed to 14 per cent of total IT exports of the nation and ranked fourth in India. The service sector of the state already accounts for 43% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) and employs 20% of the work force. The state capital, Hyderabad is considered to be bulk drug capital of the country. 50% of the top 10 companies in Pharmaceutical field are from the state. The state also commands a very prominent place in the infrastructure space, with many companies from the state being up there at the fore-front.

Andhra Pradesh ranks second in India in terms of mineral wealth. The state has about one third of India's limestone reserves, estimated at about 30 billion tonnes. The Krishna Godavari Basin has huge reserves of natural gas, and petroleum. The state is also is blessed with a large amount of coal reserves. The state ranks first nationwide in hydro electricity generation with a national market share of over 11%.

AndhraPradesh's GSDP for 2005 was estimated at $62 billion in current prices. This is a chart of trend of GSDP of AndhraPradesh at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. Accordingly, the state ranks fourth in terms of overall GSDP,and fourth in per capita GSDP among the major states of India. According to another metric, the state ranks third in terms of Gross State Product among all the states of the Indian Union.