Andhra Pradesh (/ˌɑːndrə prəˈdɛʃ/) abbreviation A.P. is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the country's southeastern coast. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh is bordered by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the north, the Bay of Bengal in the east, Tamil Nadu to the south and Karnataka to the west.
According to the Planning Commission of India, in the financial year 2011-12 the state was second in nominal GDP, and in GDP per capita it ranks fourth. Andhra Pradesh GDP in financial year 2011 was 5,67,636 crore (US$123.56). It is historically called the "Rice Bowl of India". More than 77% of its crop is rice; Andhra Pradesh produced 17,796,000 tonnes (19,616,732 short tons) of rice in 2006. Two of the mega cities of the state Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were listed among the top 15 cities contributing to India's overall Gross domestic product.
Andhra Pradesh has the second-longest coastline of 972 km (604 mi) among the states of India. Two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna, run across the state. The small enclave (30 square kilometres (12 sq mi)) of Yanam, a district of Pondicherry, lies in the Godavari delta in the northeast of the state. The state comprises four regions: Telangana, Coastal Andhra, Uttarandhra, and Rayalaseema. The state's most populous cities are Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Warangal (2011 census).
The primary official language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu and the co-official language is Urdu. Other languages often spoken in the state include Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada and Oriya.
On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganization Act formed Andhra Pradesh by merging Telugu-speaking areas of Andhra State with the already existing Hyderabad State. The Marathi speaking areas of Hyderabad State merged with Bombay State and Kannada speaking areas were merged with Mysore State.
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